To amend the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to expand coverage under the Act, to increase protections for whistleblowers, to increase penalties for high gravity violations, to adjust penalties for inflation, to provide rights for victims or their family members, and for other purposes.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Courtney (for himself, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Ms. Omar, …
Primary Purpose
Strengthens and modernizes workplace safety protections by expanding OSHA coverage to public employees, enhancing worker whistleblower protections, increasing civil and criminal penalties for safety violations, and establishing victims' rights in enforcement proceedings.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Comprehensive strengthening of OSHA by expanding coverage, enhancing penalties, protecting whistleblowers, and improving enforcement mechanisms."
Likely Beneficiaries
- Workers and employees (especially public sector employees newly covered by OSHA)
- Labor unions and employee representatives
- Whistleblowers reporting safety violations
- Victims of workplace injuries and their families
- Nonprofit worker safety training organizations
- Occupational safety attorneys and advocates
Likely Burden Bearers
- Private sector employers (face significantly higher civil and criminal penalties)
- Federal, state, and local government employers (now covered by OSHA)
- Site-controlling employers (new recordkeeping requirements)
- Employers with OSHA violation histories (increased penalties for repeat violations)
- Corporate officers and directors (personal criminal liability for violations causing death or serious harm)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor
- "the_commission"
- → Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor
- "the_commission"
- → Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor
- "the_commission"
- → Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor
- "comptroller_general"
- → Comptroller General
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Any person or organization that represents at least one employee at a workplace, including representatives authorized by employees or any other representative of an employee under the Act.
An employee (including former employee) who sustained a work-related injury or illness subject to investigation, or a family member if the victim died or is incapacitated.
The employer that has primary control over a work site at which employees of more than one employer work, such as by hiring or coordinating the work of other employers.
An incident that results in the in-patient hospitalization of 2 or more employees for medical treatment.
Bodily injury or illness involving substantial risk of death, protracted unconsciousness, protracted and obvious physical disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology