It turns out OSHA’s newly increased budget comes with some strings attached.

The appropriations bill lists two types of small businesses where OSHA can’t perform inspections.

At businesses with ten or fewer employees at all times during the last 12 months that are in low-hazard industries, OSHA can’t perform programmed safety inspections. However, OSHA can still inspect these employers if there is an employee complaint, an imminent danger, or if there is an incident causing one fatality or hospitalization of two or more workers. A list of the exempted low-hazard industries is here on OSHA’s Web site.

Also, small farms are exempt from all OSHA inspections if they had ten employees or fewer at all times during the last 12 months and if they didn’t have a temporary labor camp during the same period.

Tags: low-hazard industries, OSHA inspections, small businesses