States Leading the Way on Worker Safety and Health

Since the creation of federal OSHA, most states have been adopting the standards set by federal OSHA. However, states do have the power to set their own standards and many have, going far beyond the minimum standards set by federal OSHA. The most recent example is, several states have created emergency standards to protect workers from COVID-19 in the absence of federal action. Since it takes federal OSHA years, sometimes decades, to issue new standards, the author advocates that more states should be encouraged to go beyond the minimum protections required by federal OSHA and be innovators in protecting their workers from hazards on the job.