After President Trump took office, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) lost 40 inspectors through attrition and made no new hires. The departing inspectors made up 4 percent of the OSHA's total workforce, which fell below 1,000 in October. The reduced staff reflects the current administration's effort to slow the growth of federal bureaucracy.
Writes NBC News:OSHA inspectors are the ground troops that enforce federal health and safety requirements in the workplace. Inspectors flag potential hazards, investigate employee complaints, and document apparent violations, which can result in citations, fines and other penalties against employers. Since the agency has limited resources, OSHA prioritizes high-risk workplaces like construction sites and manufacturing plants that have elevated rates of fatal accidents, illnesses and serious injuries. (Twenty-one states run their own comprehensive OSHA programs with state inspectors.)
Though the president has repeatedly stressed the need to shrink the federal workforce, OSHA has acknowledged in recent months that it needs more manpower to do the job.
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