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Wisconsin: State or Federal OSHA?

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In Wisconsin, what is the agency that regulates worker safety?

In Wisconsin, as well as 26 other states, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, otherwise known as OSHA, regulates each type of employee safety program. 

In those 26 states, in addition to Guam, the federal OSHA routinely performs inspections of each workplace.  OSHA does a variety of tasks, including investigating fatalities and accidents in the workplace, acting as on-site safety consultant, and providing free safety tips to employers.  In addition to these tasks, they also levy fines, institute regulations, and conduct education classes and safety training.

Twenty-one states in this country have their own Occupational Safety and Health programs established.  These states are Washington, South Carolina, Wyoming, Tennessee, Virginia, Utah, Vermont, Oregon, Alaska, North Carolina, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Nevada, Hawaii, Minnesota, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Maryland, and Kentucky.  In addition to these states, Puerto Rico has established a very similar plan.

New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut have implemented state worker safety programs that only cover employees of local and state governments.  All other non-profit agencies and businesses are covered under the federal OSHA.  All of these states belong to the Occupational Safety and Health State Plan Association.

In order to set up a state OSH program, each state must submit their plans for approval by OSHA.  OSHA ensures that the plans are implemented effectively.  For this entire process to evolve, it can take up to two years or more.

Once a state has implemented its own OSH program, that state assumes all functions that were previously performed by OSHA.  States do, however, receive up to 50% of their funding from OSHA.

State regulations, according to federal law, have got to be “at least as effective as” the federal programs in existence.  California, among others, has standards that offer quite a bit more protection to employees than federal regulations do.  This situation may be especially true in situations where exposure to potentially harmful chemicals may exist, such as California. JH