Changes to OSHA regions now in effect

Washington — OSHA has finalized changes that restructure the agency’s regional operations and create a new region.

The new office, in Birmingham, AL, oversees agency efforts in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, the Florida Panhandle and its home state.

“Establishing the Birmingham region sets the stage for OSHA’s growth in the Southeast,” Regional Administrator Dorinda Hughes said in an Oct. 1 press release. “Our dedicated team is committed to equitable worker safety and ensuring workers’ voices are heard without fear of retaliation.

“We are grateful for the foundations laid by the Dallas and Atlanta regions and look forward to strengthening existing partnerships and forging new ones to promote positive safety cultures in every workplace.”

As OSHA also originally announced in May, its regions no longer have numbered designations. Instead, each region is recognized by its home-office location.

For example, Region 6 is now known as the Dallas Region. It will oversee agency efforts in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. Also, with the addition of the Birmingham office, the Atlanta Region will oversee OSHA activities in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as the rest of Florida not under the new office’s oversight.

Regions 9 and 10 have merged into the San Francisco Region “to improve operations and reduce operating costs.” Seven of the eight states in those two regions operate under OSHA State Plans.

“OSHA’s restructuring is intended to bring its offices closer to communities in need of services, and strengthen the agency’s presence in the Southeastern U.S,” the release states. “The agency also anticipates the restructuring will reduce its response time to complaints, fatalities, imminent danger and significant events. Stakeholders can continue to contact their existing area offices for assistance.”