Office of Inspector General Outlines “Significant Challenges” for OSHA, MSHA

“Significant challenges” affect OSHA’s and MSHA’s abilities to complete their respective mandates to protect worker health and safety, according to a report published in January by the Office of Inspector General (OIG). Both agencies struggle with inspection-related issues as well as with protecting workers from certain harmful exposures, especially in high-risk industries, the OIG report states.

OSHA has not effectively enforced its mandatory reporting requirements and has struggled to inspect work sites in part due to a lack of federal inspectors, according to OIG. The agency also has “an incomplete view of workplace injury and illness” due to many employers—59 percent of establishments in all industries in 2016–2020, for example—failing to submit their annual Form 300A reports to OSHA. OIG contends that OSHA could not identify whether certain establishments met the criteria for mandatory reporting, which means that the agency was also unable to remind employers about reporting requirements or cite those who did not comply. OSHA lost more than 100 federal inspectors from February 2024 to June 2025, making it more difficult for the agency to reach the millions of work sites in the United States, OIG adds. According to the report, OSHA and its state partners anticipate having approximately 1,720 inspectors this year, which OIG explains equates to about one inspector for every 84,000 U.S. workers. The report also highlights workplace violence as an ongoing concern for which OSHA could “enhance its efforts,” possibly via regulatory action.

MSHA similarly faces challenges related to inspections, though OIG says the agency’s issues have to do with MSHA not completing mandatory inspections and with inspectors failing to verify whether mine operators abated hazards in a timely manner. The new report also emphasizes the importance of protecting miners from exposures to respirable crystalline silica. While MSHA in 2024 issued a final rule intended to lower miners’ exposure to silica, its implementation is delayed by a temporary court order. OIG is also tracking MSHA’s progress on a recommended change to its sampling program, which stems from a 2020 OIG audit that found that MSHA needed to improve its efforts to protect coal miners from exposures to respirable crystalline silica. At that time, OIG recommended that the agency “enhance its sampling program to increase the frequency of inspector samples where needed.” MSHA said it would study this recommendation by November 2021, but OIG’s new report states the agency “has yet to provide the results of that study or any corrective actions.”

The OIG report urges OSHA to improve reporting of injuries and illnesses and “consider actions to address and prevent workplace violence,” while urging MSHA to improve internal controls for its mandatory inspections program and violation process, implement its final rule on silica once the ongoing litigation is resolved, and enhance its sampling program to address issues identified during OIG’s audit in 2020.

More information about OIG’s findings can be found in the full report, “U.S. Department of Labor’s Top Management and Performance Challenges” (PDF).