OSHA Enforcement Staff at Record Low: Inspector General

The Department of Labor’s Office of the Inspector General (I.G.) issued a report late last month summarizing the “challenges facing the Department, significant progress to date, and what remains to be done.”

And there is a lot remaining to be done over at OSHA and MSHA.

The IG correctly reminds Department leadership that they play “a vital role in the nation’s economy and in the lives of workers and retirees and, therefore, must remain vigilant in its important stewardship of taxpayer funds, particularly in the era of shrinking resources.”

OSHA’s Challenges

The I.G. identifies several challenges faced by OSHA.

Inadequate Enforcement Staff

At a Congressional hearing last June, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez DeRemer testified that “The funding requests for the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Wage and Hour Division direct our efforts toward conducting inspections and investigations to ensure all workers are kept safe.”

Asked by Subcommittee Chair Ilhan Omar about the severe enforcement cuts that President Trump was proposing, the Secretary assured Omar that “American workers can expect that the Department of Labor will protect the American worker as it is a core mission of the Department of Labor.”

The most critical issue impacting OSHA’s effectiveness is a decrease in federal inspectors—from 846 in February 2024 to a historic low of 736 in June 2025.

Congresswoman Omar didn’t sound convinced. Nor does the DOL Inspector General.

Although Congress rejected most of Trump’s proposed cuts, the IG report still identifies OSHA’s main “challenge” as a decrease in federal inspectors—from 846 in February 2024 to a historic low of 736 in June 2025. That’s bad — and threatens to get worse – -threatening the health and lives of American workers:

OSHA is challenged in reaching the nation’s 11.6 million worksites. This challenge could compound due to staff attrition and other reductions. As we have reported since 2022, a lack of available inspectors can lead to fewer inspections, diminished enforcement in high-risk industries and, ultimately, greater risk of fatalities, injuries, or compromised health for workers.

The shortage of OSHA inspectors may lead to a “failure to keep workplaces free of known safety and health hazards can lead to injuries, illnesses, fatalities, and serious legal consequences,”  according to the IG.

Aside from fewer workplaces in general that will be inspected, OSHA staffing shortages mean that OSHA be increasingly limited to inspections that react to injuries an deaths instead of having the resources needed to conduct proactive (programmed) inspections before someone gets hurt. More on that below.

Going Reactive: Injury and Illness Reporting

The I.G. notes that “OSHA has limited ability to focus inspection and compliance efforts where they are most needed because it has not effectively enforced its mandatory illness and injury reporting requirements for employers.”

As we noted above, the I.G. has stressed OSHA’s falling numbers of enforcement staff and limited ability to perform an adequate number of inspections.  To increase the effectiveness of OSHA inspections, the agency tries to target for inspection those workplaces where they are most needed. The agency prioritizes for inspection fatalities, catastrophes, worker complaints, and other workplaces that have had serious incidents. These are called “unprogrammed inspections and are mostly reactive — after a worker has been injured or killed.

Whatever resources are left over are dedicated to “programmed inspections” where OSHA attempts to pro-actively inspect those workplaces with the highest injury and illness rates (as well as those that fall into OSHA’s national or regional emphasis programs.)

When planning programmed inspections, OSHA decides which workplaces to target based on employer-reported injury and illness numbers which — based on a 2024 OSHA regulation — requires requires large employers as well as smaller employers in high hazard industries to submit annually their “Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses” (300A) form, their “Log of Work‑Related Injuries and Illnesses” (300) form, and their “Injury and Illness Incident Report” (301) form, which provides far more details on the injuries and illnesses suffered at these workplaces.  OSHA uses this data to decide what establishments to focus on.  The last thing OSHA wants to do with its very limited enforcement resources is waste time in workplaces that don’t have any violations.

The problem, as the I.G. reports is that “the agency has limited ability to focus inspection and compliance efforts where they are most needed because it has not effectively enforced its mandatory illness and injury reporting requirements for employers.” A previous I.G. report pointed out that “between 2016 and 2020, 59 percent of establishments in all industries failed to report their mandatory annual injury and illness data to OSHA.”

Additionally,

OSHA could not identify if an establishment met the criteria for mandatory reporting. Therefore, OSHA could neither proactively remind specific establishments that they must report, nor effectively cite employers for non‑compliance. Employer under- and non-reporting continues to be a challenge for OSHA and results in an incomplete view of workplace injury and illness.

There is no overall database of all covered employers that enables OSHA who is not in compliance.  OSHA only checks to see when covered employer are complying with the requirements of the regulation when they do a physical inspection. And as we’ve noted, physical inspections are rare. Which is why over 40 percent of covered employers are not in compliance with the regulation.

Workplace Violence

Finally, the I.G. stated that “OSHA could enhance its efforts to address workplace violence, which may include taking regulatory action.”

The technical term used by regulatory experts to describe last part of that sentence, “which may include regulatory action” — is “namby-pamby.”

OSHA has recognized workplace violence — especial in healthcare, social services and retail establishments — as a major problem for over 25 years. It’s now been over 9 years since OSHA put workplace violence for healthcare and social service workers on its regulatory agenda, and the House of Representatives has twice passed legislation, with large bipartisan majorities, that would direct OSHA to issue a standard. (The Senate never voted on the bill.)

OSHA has issue excellent guidance materials (here and here) and also issued a number of General Duty Clause citations over the past 20 years — at least during Democratic administrations.

In other words, OSHA has already enhanced its efforts to address workplace violence in every way except for issuing a standard — which should be completed ASAP. Unfortunately, the last OSHA Regulatory Agenda demoted the workplace violence standard to regulatory limbo in the Long Term Agenda. We shall see if newly installed OSHA head David Keeling listens to the I.G. (as well as listening to the nurses striking in New York) and resuscitates work on the standard. Not holding my breath.

MSHA’s Challenges

MSHA also has big “challenges,” according to the I.G.

Silica Exposure

The most significant problem noted by the IG is MSHA’s failure to enforce the silica standard that was issued during the Biden administration. The I.G. placed the full blame on a court ruling, rather than the administration’s actions that led to that ruing. Meanwhile, unmentioned in the report is MSHA’s announcement that it’s going to “reconsider” the standard, not even waiting for the court decision.

Black lung is resurgent in Appalachia In fact, cases of a  particularly severe form of silica-related black lung disease, Progressive Massive Fibrosis (PMF), have been rising, particularly among young miners. The CDC estimates that about 20% of coal miners in Central Appalachia are suffering from black lung — the highest rate detected in more than 25 years. One in 20 of the region’s coal miners are living with PMF.

All of which makes MSHA’s failure to enforce the standard a fairly major “challenge” for mine workers are are dying from increasingly severe form of silica-induced black lung disease — a disease that would be largely prevented if MSHA were actually enforcing the standard.

Missing Inspections

MSHA also criticizes the agency for not completely its mandatory inspections.  The Mine Safety and Health Act requires MSHA to inspect all coal mines four times a year, and metal/non-metal mines twice a year.  Part of the reason is that MSHA had misclassified some of the mines as “new” or “abandoned,” which means they don’t have to be inspected.  The main problem is MSHA’s failure to inspect mines in overseas territories like Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. Another part of the problem was identified in a 2023 report finding that MSHA had not completed an estimated 1,589 mandatory mine inspections during Fiscal Year 2018 through Fiscal Year 2021 although it reported a nearly 100 percent completion rate. Covid was the problem in FY2020 and FY 2021, and MSHA also stated that the agency had not “effectively improved the design or execution of its internal control system since a 2011 OIG audit found similar internal control issues with the mandatory inspections program.”

Reducing Power Haulage and Machinery Deaths

There is some good news, however.

The I.G. praised MSHA’s efforts to reduce powered haulage accidents. The Biden administration issued a standard 2024 that requires mine operators to have written safety programs for surface mobile equipment (excluding belt conveyors) at surface mines and surface areas of underground mines.

According to the I.G., the new standard and “guidance on preventing accidents and meeting with mine personnel to emphasize best safety practices and training” seem to be bearing fruit as “both machinery and powered haulage accidents were trending downward, with injuries in these categories approaching historic lows in 2025.”

But the I.G. seems to have cherry-picked a bit of good news. A short review of MSHA’s fatality reports shows that while injuries from powered haulage and machinery incidents may be going down, fatalities are rising. Twenty-seven workers under MSHA jurisdiction were killed in machinery and powered haulage incidents in 2023, according to MSHA. That number dropped sharply to 16 in 2024, but rose to 20 in 2025.  Better numbers than 2023, but not exactly trending in the right direction.

And all may not be as it seems. Former MSHA chief in the Obama administration, Joe Main, reminds us that

The problems at MSHA has to be much worse than reported in the OIG report. The unwarranted manpower reductions at the Agency by the Trump Administration exacerbated an already short-staffed agency. With hundreds of MSHA personnel reductions safety and health missions that affect miners safety has to be affected. That needs a thorough investigation.

The DOL Inspector General: The Plot Thickens

While the I.G. report leaves somethings to be desired, a critical report in this administration is somewhat surprising.

It was also D’Esposito who recently suspended Labor Secretary Lori Chavez deRemer’s chief of staff, deputy Chief of Staff and her security officer (“her alleged paramour”} due to evidence of illegal travel other ethical and legal breaches.

The DOL’s I.G. Office is headed by former New York Republican Congressman Anthony D’Esposito. D’Esposito, a former New York policeman,  served in Congress from 2022 until he was defeated in the 2024 election. Trump nominated him to be DOL I.G. after he fired former DOL I.G. Larry Turner, along with 16 other Inspectors General, on January 25th 2025 — 5 days after he took office. D’Esposito was confirmed on December 18, 2025

D’Esposito hasn’t even been on the job for two months, but may not be there for much longer. It looks likely he will be seeking to win back his House seat in the upcoming mid-term elections, taking on Representative Rep. Laura Gillen who he beat in 2022, before losing his seat to her in 2024.

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) is not amused at D’Esposito’s frequent job changes. Yesterday, Blumenthal called for an investigation into D’Esposito by Acting Special Counsel Jamieson Greer, raising concerns that D’Esposito is running for political office despite continuing to serve as DOL Inspector General.  D’Esposito is covered by the Hatch Act, Blumenthal wrote,

which limits certain political activity by federal employees. The Hatch Act expressly prohibits an employee like Mr. D’Esposito from being a candidate for nomination or election to public office in a partisan election, such as a candidate in an electoral race for the House of Representatives.

All signs suggest that Mr. D’Esposito is running for office. Reporting and state party officials have indicated that Mr. D’Esposito is seeking the Republican nomination for New York’s Fourth Congressional District….The American people deserve inspectors general who are dedicated to rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse at the agency, not who are there simply to move on to the next opportunity.

Now I don’t really want to be in a position to offer political or career advice to Republican politicians, but does it really make sense to give up a secure job (at least for the next three years) to run in a toss-up district in a mid-term year when your party seems to be circling the drain?

Anyway, he seems to be one of the few Republican operatives these days who seems to have a semblance of balls integrity.  He might want to consider staying put. He seems to be a better I.G. than a Congressman.