Acting OSHA Chief Jordan Barab Coming After State Plan OSHA Programs
Acting Secretary of OSHA made a speech today at the Committee of Education and Labor House of Representatives conveying that he believes State Plan OSHA programs need more oversight and need to follow more closely with what Federal OSHA does.
Twenty-seven (27) States and territories operate some level of a state run OSHA program. Twenty-one (21) States and Puerto Rico have complete programs covering both the private sector and State and local governments; four States and the Virgin Islands have programs limited in coverage to public sector employees.
In his speech Barab disclosed that going forward Federal OSHA will require each state to also implement any National Emphasis Program (NEP) promulgated by federal OSHA. Until now states could elect not to follow federal NEP programs. He stated that based on how the state programs react that he may require them to also adopt the most recent NEP to inspect the accuracy of the injury and illness reporting requirements. In his testimony Barab said “Although we did not require the state plan states to adopt this initiative, we have told the states that we believe that it is essential that they do so because accurate reporting is critical to an effective enforcement program”. Then he went on to say “We plan in the future, to make all Federal OSHA NEPs and other similar initiatives mandatory rather than discretionary changes to the states’ programs”.
Barab believes that over a period of the last several years and especially in the mid-1990s oversight of state programs has been reduced. Citing the findings from a recent investigation of the Nevada OSHA program Barab demonstrated frustration with the lack of issuing Willful and Repeat violations during inspections and a need to step up Federal oversight of all state OSHA programs. It was determined that Nevada’s average of programmed inspections with serious violations was 26% compared with 79% for Federal OSHA. Barab believes this to mean Nevada inspectors were either failing to target inspections properly, failing to identify serious violations, or failing to classify those violations appropriately.
Federal OSHA has advised the Nevada program to ensure that all hazards identified during inspections are addressed with the employer through a citation, notification of violation, or some other method. Case files should be reviewed more thoroughly by supervisors, including review of photographs, to find hazards not initially identified. In other words Federal OSHA expects the Nevada program to write more citations.
As a result of the deficiencies identified in Nevada OSHA’s program and a shift in the administrations policies, Barab has notified all State Plans that he will be announcing a number of changes in stronger oversight, monitoring and evaluation of state programs. He has already sent interim guidance to each of OSHA’s ten Regional Administrators encouraging more extensive investigation of potential problems as part of OSHA’s monitoring procedures for all State Plans.
Barab also announced today that OSHA will conduct what he calls Baseline Special Evaluation Studies for every state that administers its own program. OSHA intends for these baseline studies to lead to better program performance and consistency throughout all State Plans.
