Human Resource Blog

Indiana State Worker Safety

I recently moved to Indiana. As an employer, am I subject to OSHA worker safety regulations, or those of a different agency?

Instead of OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration,), you will be subject to IOSHA (Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration), which covers Indiana’s state and local government employers, plus non-profit agencies and private businesses. Indiana, like 20 other states, has its own state safety program as outlined in Section 18 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 established the federal OSHA and encourages states to form their own worker safety programs. OSHA approves the state programs, and monitors them as well.

You’ll find that IOSHA’s standards are similar to those of OSHA. They have to be. The law requires that the state plans are “at least as effective” as the guidelines set at the federal level. Under this law the states also have the option to impose stricter guidelines. More lenient guidelines than the federal standards are prohibited.

Indiana has enacted several standards that are more stringent than the federal regulations.

Indiana’s state program covers all employers, but some state have programs that only cover state and local governments. In these states, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, the non-government and business employers fall under the federal OSHA’s jurisdiction.

When a state forms its own worker safety agency, OSHA supplies 50% of the funds. The state assumes the responsibility for the remainder, plus for checking into major workplace accidents. In addition, the state agency must offer programs that mirror those at the federal level. Those programs include, but are not limited to programs to educate employers and employees on workplace safety, and free safety consultations to assist employers in discovering and fixing hazards and problems in the work environment.

The law also mandates that local and state government employees must be covered by the state agency.States that establish their own health and safety agencies sometimes discover that the financial burden is too great. Eight states have closed their state agency and reverted to the jurisdiction of the federal OSHA program.  JH