Maine is now one of seven states to have its own OSHA State Plan for protecting the safety and health of state and local government workers.
Federal OSHA’s certification of the Maine State Plan took effect March 21 and verifies that the state has satisfactorily completed all requirements and has the structural components in place to move forward.
OSHA initially approved the developmental version of Maine’s State Plan in August 2015. Once a state plan is approved, OSHA funds up to 50% of the program’s costs.
Maine joins Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and the Virgin Islands as states/territories that administer safety and health programs for state and local government workers only. There are 22 other State Plan states that cover both the private sector and state and local government workers.
The Maine State Plan is administered by the state’s Department of Labor Workplace Safety and Health Division and covers 2,400 state and local government employers and 80,000 workers. The plan also covers volunteers under the direction of a state or local government employer.
Federal government workers, including those employed by the U.S. Postal Service and civilian workers on military bases, are not covered under the Maine State Plan. Federal OSHA covers those workers along with those employed in the state’s private sector.
