The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has withdrawn its proposal to withdraw final approval of Arizona’s occupational health and safety plan at the state level, a move that will now leave the state plan in place.
OSHA said Tuesday it would no longer move to reconsider Arizona’s plan, which it previously opposed because of what the federal agency had called a decades-long pattern of failures to adopt adequate maximum penalty levels, workplace safety and health standards, national emphasis program and the COVID-19 Healthcare Emergency Temporary Standard.
OSHA issued a notice in April 2022 proposing to reconsider and withdraw the state plan, and it took public comment on the notice until early July 2022.
At the end of the comment period, Arizona OSHA announced that the state plan would include measures to address the agency̵
7;s concerns.These actions include adopting certain federal standards and directives, enacting state laws to ensure maximum and minimum penalty levels in line with OSHA’s federal levels, and authorizing the adoption of a temporary emergency standard consistent with OSHA and the Industrial Commission of Arizona in cases involving “serious hazards “. “, according to OSHA.
OSHA noted that its withdrawal of opposition comes despite recent reports of a downward trend in Arizona workplace inspections under the state plan’s enforcement program, since the reports were released following the April 2022 Federal Register notice.
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