By Forrest Richardson, CSP, ARME
Director of Safety, Fit For Work
While OSHA’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 regulatory agenda prioritized navigating back to normal, FY 2026 heralds a year of budget changes and priority shifts as new leadership takes effect. Why should employers prioritize awareness of these updates and their impact on workplace safety and compliance? Liability.
Employers are responsible for remaining up to date with standards, and noncompliance comes with the risk of not only OSHA citations, but lawsuits. The key insights shared here can help employers strengthen worker‑centric safety programs and reduce compliance‑related liability as OSHA’s 2026 priorities take shape.
Leadership Spotlight: David Keeling
A major change for OSHA is the appointment of David Keeling as Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA in October 2025. Keeling’s background includes 30+ years in safety leadership at organizations including UPS and Amazon. His expertise in logistics, warehousing, and transportation safety is expected to play a significant role during his term.
Three areas emerge as likely priorities:
- Practical, implementable strategies: Reduced emphasis on standards that may not be practical to implement for most industries.
- Data-driven compliance: Decisions will be based on objective numbers. Reference OSHA’s media center, news releases, and Federal Register regularly to remain aware of any changes to standards, citation processes, and accompanying new penalties.
- Collaboration with industry stakeholders: Keeling will be involved with leading OSHA meetings at the federal level, maintaining open lines of communication with industry leaders.
Budget Breakdown: FY 2026 Funding
Funding uncertainty is likely to impact enforcement and resources. The Trump administration has requested $582.4M, down $49.9M from FY 2025. This would equate to cutting 220+ Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) positions, shifting focus toward outreach and support with less emphasis on enforcement. It is possible that this shift could precede the transfer of additional responsibility to the state level.
The Senate is proposing maintaining the FY 2025 funding level of about $632.3M, which allows greater spending on compliance and a likely uptick in personnel available for inspections.
Enforcement Allocation
The federal enforcement share is roughly 37.7% of the requested budget. If cuts are passed, it’s probable that fewer inspections will take place, so the manufacturing and energy sectors could experience greater leniency. The reduced penalty process will remain in place, continuing the reduction in penalty citations for good faith efforts.
Another major area facing probable impact is the Susan Harwood Training Grant Program, which supports training for employees in small businesses, especially those in high-hazard or high-fatality industries. This training grant program is likely to be reduced or defunded completely if the administration’s pared-down budget passes.
What This Means for Employers
Employers can expect OSHA to:
- Emphasize realistic but rigorous standards for logistics and warehousing: Employers need to maintain awareness of national enforcement and Regional Emphasis Program (REP) updates since those are the standards observed during inspections.
- Balance enforcement with operational realities: OSHA exists to provide guidance and standards, and the administration seeks to achieve balance between enforcement and the challenges employers face.
- Engage more with safety associations: With a potentially reduced budget, outreach to safety organizations on a local level could benefit employers by providing updates and training resources.
Conclusion
As these changes take effect, employers and safety professionals should recognize the increased need for internal audits and third-party safety programs. These proactive compliance strategies offset reduced federal oversight while also providing significant risk management benefits.
Stay tuned: In Part 2, we’ll explain how OSHA calculates penalties under the 2026 framework and what those changes could mean for your bottom line.
Forrest Richardson has served as the Safety Division Director for Fit For Work since 2004. He has over 30 years of experience in environmental health & safety (EHS) compliance management and leads national, regional, and local EHS Compliance services for Fit For Work. Forrest holds the Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Associate Risk Management Enterprise (ARME), and Certified Safety Manager (CSM) certifications. He also facilitates the Fit For Work Safety Specialist professional development track, supporting EHS podcasts, white papers, blogs, and safety newsletters.
Forrest proudly served in the United States Army 25th Infantry Division, Big Red One and 1st Calvary 227th Assault Helicopter Divisions. He is a professional member of the American Society of Safety Professionals, serving as chapter president, and supporting national professional development conferences. As a guest speaker he supports national, regional, and local professional development conferences across general, construction, and oil and gas industries.
