OSHA Certifies Maine’s State Plan

Federal OSHA has certified Maine’s state plan, the agency announced last week in a news release. OSHA’s certification means that Maine has in place all the necessary structural components for its state plan, which covers approximately 2,400 state and local government employers; close to 80,000 employees working in state, county, and local governments as well as in quasi-municipal agencies; and volunteers under the direction of state or local government employers. The certification by federal OSHA also verifies that Maine has satisfactorily completed the plan’s required aspects since it was first approved as a developmental state plan in August 2015.

Maine’s state plan is administered by the Maine Department of Labor's Workplace Safety and Health Division. It’s one of seven state plans that only administer health and safety programs for state and local government workers. Twenty-two state plans currently cover private sector workers in addition to workers in state and local governments.

State plans are OSHA-approved workplace safety and health programs operated by individual states or U.S. territories. They are monitored by federal OSHA, which provides up to 50 percent of each program’s funding. More information on state plans can be found on OSHA’s website.