Human Resource Blog

Florida: State or Federal OSHA?

In

Florida, what is the agency that regulates worker safety?

Unlike 21 states that have set up their own worker safety and health programs, Florida has chosen, like 25 other states and Guam, to leave the regulatory process up to the appropriate federal agency. That agency is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, otherwise known as OSHA.

In

Florida and the other 25 OSHA-regulated states, the federal organization does all of the workplace inspections. It probes deaths and accidents on the job. It creates the appropriate regulations and imposes fines where necessary. It provides on-site safety consultations and it offers training and classes in job safety.

Three states, plus the

Virgin Islands, have chosen to kind of hybrid state program in which the state offers workplace safety regulation and protection only to government workers, both local and state. Businesses and non-profits are still under the regulatory jurisdiction of OSHA.

But 21 states have opted to go it alone. Their plans are called

OSH programs, for Occupational Safety and Health. These programs must provide all the services that OSHA offers, and must be at least as strict as if not stricter than the federal organization. In regulatory jargon, this is known as being “at least as effective as” OSHA. Some states offer noticeably more rigorous standards than OSHA itself. Noteworthy in this category is

California, which provides substantial regulation regarding exposure to possibly toxic or otherwise harmful chemicals.

States that choose to create an

OSH of their own must go through a long approval process, sometimes involving up to 2 years. OSHA must first give the okay to their tentative plans. Once that hurdle is cleared, then the federal agency monitors the local

OSH to insure that it complies with OSHA standards.

If a state lives up to all the requirements and standards, OSHA will reimburse the costs of the local program by 50%.

The 21 states, plus the territory of Puerto Rico, that have set up their own OSH programs are New Mexico, Alaska, Minnesota, North Carolina, California, Hawaii, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Kentucky, Nevada, Oregon, Maryland, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Vermont, Wyoming, and Arizona.