HIOSH (Hawaii Occupational Safety & Health Division) returned to federal OSHA the job of conducting safety and health inspections of private-sector employers within the borders of all military installations in Hawaii. The change in federal enforcement was made at the request of the Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
In a final rule effective October 12, 2011, federal OSHA amended its description of the Hawaii State Plan to reflect the jurisdictional change. Last week, HIOSH revised the State’s Occupational Safety and Health labor law poster to reflect that employees working on military installations are excluded from state plan coverage.
The reasons for the request: (1) to eliminate dual or overlapping state and federal jurisdiction; (2) to ease obtaining security clearances to highly classified and/or restricted areas; (3) to improve coverage of hazardous waterfront working conditions; and (4) to enhance the ability to negotiate with controlling federal agencies on hazard abatement and other compliance issues.
The request came after a federal OSHA annual monitoring report concluded that HIOSH had “significant program deficiencies” raising questions about the State’s ability to operate an effective enforcement program. In response, HIOSH acknowledged performance issues and explained that staffing and funding cutbacks were primary contributing factors.
Compliance Poster Company has updated Hawaii State & Federal All-On-One™ Labor Law Posters to reflect the revision to the State HIOSH posting. If you already have a 2012 Hawaii All-On-One poster, update and save with the Hawaii HIOSH Peel ‘N Post™ stickers.