OSHA’s Back! Next Steps for Employers

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is officially back to work now that the government shutdown has ended. Now that OSHA has a full complement of agency staff available, employers should be prepared for agency operations that had temporarily ceased because they were not deemed “essential” to resume, including inspections under OSHA’s recently announced Site-Specific Targeting (SST) program. Likewise, new agency positions related to rulemaking and other policy positions may soon emerge.

During the shutdown, inspections were primarily limited to high-gravity serious violations, imminent danger situations, and responses to fatalities and catastrophes. OSHA also continued necessary enforcement activities on certain open cases when needed to meet the agency’s six-month statutory deadlines, including issuing citations. Thus, employers should be mindful of any deadlines associated with receipt of citations or other enforcement activities during the shutdown including abatement verification, requesting an informal conference, or contesting any citations.

Employers should also expect that agency staff will begin addressing the backlog of work put on hold while staff was furloughed. It is anticipated that OSHA will be engaged in increased enforcement activity as it follows up on any formal complaints to determine their validity. Such activity may vary from email or phone inquiries, to opening new inspections. In addition, OSHA, through the Office of the Solicitor, will resume filing complaints with the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) with respect to contested citations. With the confirmation of Jonathan Snare as the new OSHRC chair, the Commission is now positioned to grant or deny petitions for discretionary review with respect to appealed citations. However, until there is a quorum on the Commission, existing or newly granted petitions will be put on hold and not subject to a briefing schedule.

On the regulatory front, OSHA will move forward with reviewing comments in the docket involving its pending heat standard. The period to accept post-hearing comments following OSHA’s informal public hearing officially closed on October 30, 2025. Interested stakeholders should expect that OSHA staff will begin reviewing comments submitted on this rulemaking. Whether the agency will substantially revise the proposed rule is up for debate, but any substantial changes to the proposed regulatory text may open the rule to later legal challenge.

Similarly, OSHA was engaged in accepting public comments on various deregulatory efforts prior to the shutdown, including changes to the general duty clause, respiratory protection for various chemicals, and lighting on construction sites. Like the proposed heat rule, agency staff will begin reviewing comments submitted to the docket, but it remains unknown when any final rules will be published in the Federal Register. As it returns to business, agency actions going forward may reveal shifts in policy preference on other issues such as musculoskeletal disorders, infectious disease, and workplace violence in healthcare, among others. 

Finally, with the confirmation and swearing in of the new Assistant Secretary for OSHA David Keeling and Solicitor of Labor Jonathan Berry, OSHA will be busy developing enforcement and policy priorities for the remainder of the Trump administration. The re-opening will likewise prompt renewed activity and the emergence of new policy positions from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), with Wayne Palmer now installed as the new assistant secretary of labor for MSHA, and with the resumption of proceedings before the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission.

Littler will continue to provide updates as new initiatives and other developments evolve.