Trump to Workers: Drop Dead

Job Safety Budget Just $3.68 per Worker 

By Jordan Barab, Confined Space

In Washington DC, the classical way to attempt to hide bad news is to announce it late Friday afternoon.  And the Trump administration never disappoints: Late Friday afternoon (May 30), the administration dumped its detailed FY 2026 budget proposals for four federal worker safety agencies.

If budgets are the monetary expression of an organization’s values, Trump’s message to workers is: Drop Dead.

The administration’s budget requests that Congress impose devastating cuts on the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, the similar Mine Safety agency, the research arm called the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the elimination of the Chemical Safety Board.

Before I get into the depressing details, remember that Trump’s request is only the first piece of the final puzzle: We still need to see the House and Senate budget proposals, and then what comes out in the final bill. The new fiscal year begins on October 1, although Congress has not met that deadline in almost 30 years.

As we expected, OSHA faces serious budget cuts under Trump’s proposal (see the chart below): an 8% cut overall from FY 2025, the current federal budget year.

Staffing will be reduced from 1,810 to 1,587, 223 people or 12.3%. These staff cuts are expected to come through “attrition,” which seems to mean no layoffs or firings.

Biggest cut

In dollars the largest cut is in enforcement: From $243 million to $219.3 million.

Percentagewise, the biggest reduction, comes out of Standards and Guidance: a 24% cut from an already pitifully low budget.

And as expected (and as attempted in every Republican administration since George W. Bush), the budget proposes to eliminate the Susan Harwood Worker Training grant program. It supports nonprofit organizations that train employers and workers on recognizing, avoiding, and preventing workplace safety and health hazards and employers about their rights and responsibilities.

Under Trump’s proposal, MSHA, the mine safety agency, faces a 10% cut, with reductions coming in every line item, especially standards and training.

No logic

The only “logic” I can see behind these drastic cuts is MAGA’s desire to reduce federal budgets back to their magical pre-COVID levels. This budget performs that task admirably. (Although, adjusting for inflation, OSHA’s $582 million budget in 2020 would translate to $715 million today so in real terms proposed spending is down 18% from five years ago.)

But math, logic, law, or empathy are not features of this administration.

OSHA’s main job is to save lives by enforcing the law: ensuring that employers comply with OSHA standards and regulations in to reduce the killing and maiming of workers. It’s a huge mandate — especially considering OSHA’s paltry budget: assuring the safety and health of 158 million workers at more than 11.5 million workplaces.

That’s just $3.68 per worker this year.

Empty promise

The enforcement section of the President’s OSHA budget assures workers that “this funding will allow OSHA to continue its commitment to and emphasis on the enforcement of workplace safety and health standards and regulations.”

Good to know. Until you look at the numbers.

This budget request proposes cutting the federal OSHA enforcement budget by 5.3% from $243 million to $219.3 million. Enforcement staff will be cut from 1,292 to 1,124, a 13% cut.

So where is the stated “commitment to and emphasis on the enforcement of workplace safety and health standards and regulations?”

Answer: It’s not there. Before we examine this further, here are the proposed cuts, including wiping out worker safety education.

Trump’s FY2026 OSHA Budget Proposal (Thousands of Dollars)
OSHA (in thousands of dollars)	FY 2024 Final	FY25 Final	FY 2026 Request	$Change From FY2025	%Change From FY 2025
Safety and Health Standards	21,000	21,000	16,000	-5,000	-23.80%
Federal Enforcement	243,000	243,000	219,343	-23,657	-9.70%
Whistleblower Protection	22,500	26,000	25,000	-1,000	-3.80%
State Enforcement	120,000	116,673	115,200	-1,473	-1.30%
Technical Support	26,000	26,000	23,500	-2,500	-9.60%
Federal Compliance Assistance	78,262	79,973	78,262	-1,711	-2.10%
State Compliance Assistance	63,160	61,276	60,476	-800	-1.30%
Training Grants	12,787	12,787	0	-12,787	-100.00%
TOTAL	632,309	632,309	582,381	-49,928	-7.90%

Reagan Did Better

The numbers don’t lie. The Trump budget predicts that OSHA will conduct only 24,929 inspections next year. That’s almost 30% fewer inspections estimated next year than the current year.

In the 1980s, during the Reagan administration there were many fewer workplaces and workers, yet OSHA averaged over 60,000 inspections per year.

Last year, it would have taken OSHA 185 years to visit every workplace in the country just once.  And next year promises to be much, much worse.

Fewer inspections mean something worse than less law and order in the workplace: employers will know that they will be even less likely to ever see an OSHA inspector than ever before, and more workers will likely get injured, sick and killed.

Jordan Barab, Confined Space. Jordan Barab was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor at OSHA from 2009 to 2017, and spent 16 years running the safety and health program at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. He writes regularly at https://jordanbarab.com/confinedspace/