OSHA turns up heat on state programs, Wall Street Journal says

OSHA has opened up another front in its campaign to boost enforcement and is increasing the pressure on states that have their own occupational safety regulatory programs, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal this week.

OSHA “is pushing for states to follow national programs that target certain industries or certain types of safety concerns and is ramping up its state-review process,” the Journal article says.
The plan comes after revelations that Nevada’s agency may have fallen short following a string of construction deaths in that state.

“Workplace-safety advocates say that if successful, the administration’s approach could correct what they say has been too-loose oversight of state agencies from the federal government in recent years, which they argue led to weaker enforcement of safety laws,” the Journal article says.

“But the operators of some state workplace-safety agencies say they fear an adversarial relationship, and caution against increasing demands in a time of budget cuts.”

About half of the states have their own occupational safety regulatory agencies. The federal government has responsibility to monitor them to insure that they are as effective as OSHA, which regulates safety matters in the remaining states.”

The full version of the Journal article is available only to subscribers.