Overview of FY26 Occupational Safety and Health Infrastructure Requests
 

Issue: Worker safety organizations are urgently requesting targeted FY26 appropriations to prevent critical failures in the national occupational safety infrastructure. Key agencies are threatened by underfunding, administrative instability, and the lack of a full quorum at the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC). This threatens to cripple timely dispute resolution, essential scientific research, independent accident investigations, and effective policy development across the U.S.

Impact on Advocates: Organizations dedicated to worker protection are concerned that failure to fully support the safety ecosystem undermines due process for employers and the fundamental protection of workers. They stress that a functional system—reliant on stable funding for enforcement, research, and adjudication—is necessary to ensure fair process, generate data-driven outcomes, and ultimately protect lives and national productivity.

Impact of Action: By adopting the specific requests in the FY26 Labor-HHS-Education and Interior bills, Congress can solidify the nation's safety infrastructure. Key actions include:

1. Restoring Adjudication (OSHRC): Fund the agency fully and urge the prompt confirmation of Commissioner nominees to maintain a quorum, stabilize dispute resolution, and reduce case backlogs.
2. Protecting Science (NIOSH): Provide no less than FY25 enacted funding to safeguard core research and extramural programs (like the Total Worker Health initiative and sector research).
3. Sustaining Investigations (CSB): Reject elimination and fund no less than FY25 enacted to ensure the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board can continue independent root-cause accident investigations.
4. Enhancing Policy (OSHA/NACOSH): Maintain OSHA funding to protect enforcement and training, and direct the agency to regularly convene NACOSH to advise on emerging risks like heat illness prevention and psychosocial risks/mental health.
    

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