Sponsors (15)
Official title: Amend the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to expand coverage under the Act, to increase protections for whistleblowers, to increase penalties for high gravity violations, to adjust penalties for inflation, to provide rights for victims or their family members, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 28, 2026 by Bernard Sanders · Last progress April 28, 2026
The bill substantially strengthens worker protections, reporting, and enforcement under OSHA—improving safety and whistleblower rights—while imposing significant new compliance, administrative, and enforcement costs and tighter timelines that will strain employers, state agencies, and federal enforcement resources.
Public-sector workers (federal, State, and local employees) gain explicit OSHA coverage and clearer alignment of State plans with new federal protections, ensuring those workers are covered by the same workplace-safety standards as private-sector employees.
Employees across high-risk industries (construction, transportation, healthcare, and others) receive stronger anti‑retaliation, whistleblower, and refusal-of-danger protections plus an enforceable complaint process with possible reinstatement, back pay, and damages—giving workers clearer, enforceable rights to report hazards and refuse unsafe work.
Workers gain faster and more transparent incident reporting, public employer injury data, and higher civil/criminal penalties for willful or deadly violations, which should improve incident response, deter unsafe practices, and inform workers and communities.
State and local governments (and ultimately taxpayers) will face significant new compliance, administrative, and budgetary burdens from being treated as employers under expanded OSHA coverage and from tighter federal oversight and plan-update deadlines.
Private employers — especially small businesses and multi‑state operators — face substantially higher compliance costs, new reporting requirements, larger penalties (including potential criminal exposure for willful or deadly violations), and immediate abatement obligations that may increase prices, insurance and litigation costs, or reduce hiring.
OSHA, the Department of Labor, and administrative adjudicators will likely see a big increase in complaints and stricter timelines (e.g., many 90‑day deadlines), risking strained resources, slower resolution of other enforcement matters, and possible rushed or less-thorough investigations or reviews.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Broadens employer coverage to include federal and state governments, strengthens whistleblower protections, mandates reporting/recordkeeping, updates standards, and requires State plan conformity.
Expands federal workplace-safety law by making States, political subdivisions, and the United States explicitly "employers" under OSHA, strengthening anti‑retaliation protections, requiring new reporting and recordkeeping, and creating a process for federal agencies to certify they provide equal protection. It tightens employer duties to eliminate recognized hazards, requires updated consensus standards, adds training and grant authorities, and sets timelines for State plan conformity and federal/state implementation. The bill creates new procedures for interagency jurisdictional certifications and challenges, increases worker protections (including clearer refusal-to-work and whistleblower rules), mandates employer notifications of severe incidents, requires annual electronic reporting, and directs GAO reviews of State plan effectiveness on a recurring schedule. Effective dates vary: 90 days generally, 12–24 months for State-plan changes, and 36 months in non‑State‑plan jurisdictions for full application to workplaces.