OSHA State Plans

As outlined in Section 18 of the OSH Act, OSHA encourages each state to create and maintain its own job safety and health plan (called a "State Plan"). State Plans are "OSHA-approved job safety and health programs operated by individual states rather than federal OSHA."

OSHA is responsible for the following oversight tasks for State Plans:

• Approving all State Plans
• Monitoring all State Plans
• Providing funding (as much as 50 percent) for each program
• Ensuring that the State Plan is at least as effective (ALAE) as the federal OSHA program

In some cases, State Plans exclude certain workers (for example, some State Plans do not cover those who work in maritime industries or on military bases). In these cases, OSHA provides coverage to workers specifically excluded from a State Plan.

The regulations in State Plans must be as strict or more strict than the federal OSHA standards. If your state has an OSHA-approved State Plan, you must follow the standards in the State Plan (rather than the federal OSHA standards). To see if your state has an OSHA-approved State Plan, visit the OSHA State Plan webpage.

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