OSHA to take steps to revoke safety authority from 3 GOP states over noncompliance with COVID rules – By Kyle Morris (FOX Business) / Oct 19 2021
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey describes the move as a ‘political stunt’
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Tuesday that three GOP-led states – Arizona, Utah and South Carolina – could lose their state-based authority to oversee workplace safety due to their unwillingness to adopt certain COVID-19 rules relating to health care facilities.
OSHA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Labor, has given 22 states the ability to control workplace safety regulations and laws so long as they implement strong regulations and follow guidelines put forth on a federal level.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Jim Frederick, acting assistant secretary of labor for OSHA, said, according to the New York Times, that the agency has “worked in good faith to help these three state plans come into compliance,” however, “their continued refusal is a failure to maintain their state plan commitment to thousands of workers in their state.”
