Many state-run safety and health programs stumbling, GAO says

OSHA is failing to hold state-run programs accountable for addressing problems in their programs in a timely manner, the Government Accounting Office says in a report.

The report, released last week, finds a number of issues in states with their own occupational safety and health programs. Under the law, states may opt to run their own programs rather than having the federal government do it, but have to meet federal standards while doing so or risk having OSHA take over. Twenty-six states have approved plans, although in several coverage is limited to employees of state and local government.

Among the problems identified by the GAO:

• Many states have difficulty retaining inspectors because of higher salaries offered in private industry.
• Some states have hiring freezes owing to budget pressures.
• Training of state inspectors is falling short due to shortages of instructors and problems with obtaining appropriate equipment and facilities in the field.

“Although OSHA evaluates state-run programs during its annual reviews, GAO found that OSHA does not hold states accountable for addressing issues in a timely manner or establish time frames for when to resume federal enforcement when necessary,” the GAO said.

“In addition, the current statutory framework may not permit OSHA to quickly resume concurrent enforcement authority with the state when a state is struggling with performance issues. As a result, a state’s performance problems can continue for years.”

“GAO also noted that OSHA does not compile lessons learned from its past experiences when it has resumed federal enforcement in a state,” the report said. “This prevents the agency from building on previous experiences in responding to future situations.”