When considering the effectiveness of workplace safety regulations, some debate whether strong standards alone are sufficient to protect workers or whether strong standards are of little value without equally strong enforcement. These questions often come up when comparing federal OSHA and Cal/OSHA, and, at least in the area of standard-setting, Cal/OSHA is significantly stricter than its federal counterpart.
Under federal law, OSHA may approve state plans—that is, give a state the authority to implement and enforce standards OSHA issues under the federal Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act. Currently, 28 states have approved state plans. A state plan may duplicate the federal standards without alteration. Alternatively, a state plan may include standards that are more stringent than the federal counterparts. Under no circumstances may a state plan include provisions that, in the opinion of OSHA, are less stringent than the federal counterpart provisions.
