State Plans and Cal/OSHA
The United States is not one jurisdiction for workplace safety. Section 18 of the OSH Act allows any state or territory to run its own occupational safety and health programme in place of federal OSHA, provided it is “at least as effective as” the federal programme.
Around half have done so. If a State Plan covers you, your regulator is the state agency, not federal OSHA — and in several states the rules themselves go further.
This page is not legal advice. Check your own state agency’s current requirements.
The three kinds of coverage
Section titled “The three kinds of coverage”| Coverage | What it means |
|---|---|
| Federal OSHA | Federal OSHA enforces directly. Private sector only — state and local government employees are not covered |
| State Plan (private + public) | The state agency enforces for private-sector and state/local government employers |
| State Plan (public only) | Federal OSHA covers the private sector; the state plan covers only state and local government employees |
There are around 29 State Plans in total — roughly 22 covering both private and public sector, and about 7 covering public employees only. The exact roster changes occasionally, so confirm your state’s current status with OSHA before relying on it.
States and territories running a full (private + public) plan include: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.
Public-employee-only plans include: Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and the Virgin Islands.
”At least as effective as”
Section titled “”At least as effective as””A State Plan cannot be weaker than federal OSHA — but it may be stronger, and many are. States can:
- Adopt standards more protective than the federal equivalent
- Adopt standards in areas where no federal standard exists
- Set shorter reporting deadlines or broader reporting triggers
- Apply different penalty structures
The practical consequence: reading the federal standards tells you the floor, not the ceiling. If you operate in a State Plan state, the state agency’s rules are the ones that bind you.
California — the biggest divergence
Section titled “California — the biggest divergence”Cal/OSHA (the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, under the California Department of Industrial Relations) operates the most substantially different programme in the country. Its standards live in Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations.
The Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) — 8 CCR §3203
Section titled “The Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) — 8 CCR §3203”Every California employer must have a written IIPP. There is no federal equivalent. It must include:
- The person or persons with authority and responsibility for implementing the programme
- A system for ensuring employees comply with safe work practices
- A system for communicating with employees about safety in a form readily understandable — including a means for workers to report hazards without fear of reprisal
- Procedures for identifying and evaluating hazards — including scheduled periodic inspections
- Procedures for investigating occupational injury or illness
- Methods for correcting unsafe conditions in a timely manner, based on the severity of the hazard
- Training — when the programme is established, to all new employees, on new assignments, whenever a new hazard is introduced, and to supervisors on the hazards their workers face
- Recordkeeping — of inspections and of training
This is essentially a description of a working safety management system, and it maps closely onto what SteadyOn does.
Heat illness prevention
Section titled “Heat illness prevention”- §3395 — outdoor places of employment. Triggers at 80°F: access to shade, one quart of drinking water per employee per hour, rest breaks, acclimatisation procedures, emergency response, and training. Additional high-heat procedures apply at 95°F in specified industries.
- §3396 — indoor places of employment. A more recent standard applying to indoor workplaces reaching 82°F, with further requirements at 87°F.
Other California-specific requirements
Section titled “Other California-specific requirements”- Workplace violence prevention plans — required for most employers under Labor Code §6401.9
- Shorter reporting timeframe — serious injury, illness, or death must be reported to Cal/OSHA immediately, and in any case within 8 hours
- Permit requirements for certain activities such as trenching and scaffolding above specified heights
Other states worth knowing
Section titled “Other states worth knowing”| State | Agency | Notable differences |
|---|---|---|
| Washington | L&I / DOSH (WAC 296) | Requires a written Accident Prevention Program for all employers; safety committees required at 11+ employees; own ergonomics and outdoor heat rules |
| Oregon | Oregon OSHA | Written safety programme and safety committee requirements; own heat and wildfire smoke rules |
| Michigan | MIOSHA | Own standards in several areas; separate general-industry and construction divisions |
| Minnesota | Minnesota OSHA | A Workplace Accident and Injury Reduction (AWAIR) programme required in designated high-hazard industries |
| Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia | State agencies | Broadly mirror federal standards with state-specific additions and their own reporting portals |
This is not exhaustive. If your state runs a plan, go to its agency’s site directly.
What this means for SteadyOn
Section titled “What this means for SteadyOn”SteadyOn’s US configuration is currently built around federal OSHA:
- The regulator reference on incidents points to federal OSHA and
osha.gov/report - The reportable categories seeded for US organisations follow federal 1904.39 — fatality within 8 hours; in-patient hospitalisation, amputation, or loss of an eye within 24 hours
If a State Plan covers you, both may need adjusting. The good news is that SteadyOn’s lists are soft-coded and org-scoped — you can edit them yourself:
- Settings → Organisation → Lookups lets you rename, add, retire, and reorder the notifiable categories to match your state’s triggers. A California organisation, for example, may want to reflect the immediate-reporting requirement in the category labels.
- Record your state agency’s reporting line and portal in your Emergency Plan contacts or as a Document, so the right route is in front of whoever needs it.
Per-state regulator profiles are on the roadmap. For now the defaults are federal, and the lookups are yours to adjust.
Where a State Plan makes SteadyOn more useful, not less
Section titled “Where a State Plan makes SteadyOn more useful, not less”California’s IIPP, Washington’s Accident Prevention Program, Oregon’s safety programme, and Minnesota’s AWAIR all require substantially the same thing: a documented, operating safety management system with hazard identification, inspections, correction, investigation, training, communication, and records.
That is a direct description of SteadyOn’s modules:
| IIPP / APP / AWAIR element | SteadyOn module |
|---|---|
| Responsibility and authority | Roles + People |
| Hazard identification and evaluation | Hazards |
| Scheduled periodic inspections | Inspections — recurring templates |
| Correcting unsafe conditions | Actions, with priority and due dates |
| Investigating injuries and illnesses | Incidents — investigation |
| Communication with employees, without reprisal | Public reporting link; any member can report |
| Training | Training Courses + Enrollments |
| Recordkeeping | The Log page + per-entity Log tab; Documents |
If you are in a state that mandates a written programme, keep the programme document itself in Documents and let the modules above be the evidence that it is actually running.
Where to go next
Section titled “Where to go next”- US Regulatory Framework — how federal and state layers fit together
- OSHA Recordkeeping — federal reporting triggers, which your state may tighten
- 29 CFR 1910 General Industry — the federal floor