PCCA Journal|4
th
Quarter 2010
30
Safety News
T
he U.S. Department of La-
bor’s Occupational Safety and
Health Administration recently
announced that it has conclud-
ed an evaluation of state-run occu-
pational safety and health programs
under its jurisdiction. Enhanced Fed-
eral Annual Monitoring and Evalu-
ation (EFAME) reports provide de-
tailed findings and recommendations
on the operations of state-run OSHA
programs in 25 states and territories.
The enhanced review was initiated
after a 2009 special OSHA report
on Nevada’s program, prompted by
numerous construction-related fatali-
ties in Las Vegas, identified serious
operational deficiencies.
“Our goal is to identify problems
in state-run programs before they re-
sult in serious injuries or fatalities,”
OSHA boss Dr. David Michaels said.
“While we found many positives in
the state programs, we also found
deficiencies including concerns
about identification of hazards,
proper classification of violations,
proposed penalty levels, and failure
to follow up on violations to ensure
that workplace safety and health
problems are corrected.”
The EFAME report and appendi-
ces for each of the 25 states, as well
as each state’s comment and fiscal
year 2009 self-evaluation report,
are available on OSHA’s website.
States will have 30 days to provide a
formal response, including a detailed
corrective action plan for addressing
findings and recommendations.
Each state’s formal response will
be public information and available
online as soon as it is received. The
EFAME review also identified areas
where states have adopted standards
and procedures exceeding federal
OSHA’s requirements, such as injury
and illness prevention programs
in several states; the adoption of
a cranes and derricks rule prior to
OSHA’s in North Carolina, Washing-
ton, and Maryland; and Oregon’s
requirement that employers abate
serious workplace violations during
the contest period, a legal tool under
consideration in Congress but still
lacking in federal OSHA.
OSHA said the review of the Ha-
waii program highlights significant
performance problems resulting
from staffing and funding cutbacks.
OSHA is addressing these problems
directly with the governor’s office
and has offered to provide supple-
mental federal enforcement assis-
tance until the state can address
its problems. If Hawaii is unable to
present a reasonable strategy for
expeditiously improving its worker
safety and health oversight, consid-
eration will be given to the state’s
current authority to operate its own
program independently and could
result in a federal takeover.
“We recognize that some of the
problems we identified could stem
from significant budget constraints
in many of the states and may
also be the result of less intensive
federal oversight in recent years,”
Michaels said. “OSHA, through its
regional offices, intends to provide
assistance in the implementation
of corrective actions and will work
closely with state officials to review
progress. We are confident that by
working together to address identi-
fied problems, we can improve state
operations and provide more con-
sistent protection to all of America’s
workers.”
The 25 states and territories evalu-
ated are Alaska, Arizona, California,
Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa,
Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Min-
nesota, New Jersey, New Mexico,
New York, North Carolina, Oregon,
Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Ten-
nessee, Utah, Vermont, U.S. Virgin
Islands, Virginia, Washington, and
Wyoming. No reports are being is-
sued on the Nevada and Illinois state
plans; a special study was issued
on the Nevada state plan in October
2009, and the Illinois state plan was
not approved until September 2009.
The status of each state’s efforts to
improve its plans will be reflected in
the fiscal year 2010 Federal Annual
Monitoring and Evaluation report
expected in 2011, OSHA said.
When Congress enacted the Oc-
cupational Safety and Health Act of
1970, it created an opportunity for
federal-state partnerships to promote
safety and health. Section 18 of the
law allows states to develop and en-
force occupational safety and health
standards in the context of an OSHA-
approved state plan. Twenty-seven
states and territories have sought
and obtained approval. Twenty-one
states and Puerto Rico have com-
plete programs covering both the
private sector and state and local
governments. Four states and the
U.S. Virgin Islands have programs
limited in coverage to public sector
employees. Currently, state plans
deliver the OSHA program to 40
percent of the nation’s workplaces,
with federal OSHA responsible for
the other 60 percent.
State plan standards and enforce-
ment must be at least as effective as
federal OSHA in providing safe and
healthful employment to workers. In
addition, state plans operate under
authority of state law, not delegated
federal authority. Thus, in order to
operate its own plan, a state must
enact an equivalent of the federal
OSH Act and must use administra-
tive and regulatory procedures to
adopt its own standards, regulations
and operating procedures, all of
which must be updated within six
months of any change in the federal
program.
OSHA Reports on State-Run OSH Programs, Calls for Corrective Actions