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VIII. State Plans

The 25 States and territories with their own OSHA approved occupational safety and health plans must adopt a comparable rule. These 25 States are: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Virgin Islands, Washington, and Wyoming; and Connecticut and New York (for state and local Government employees only). 29 CFR 1952.4 requires that such States with approved State plans under section 18 of the OSH Act (29 U.S.C. 677), must adopt recordkeeping and reporting regulations which are "substantially identical" to those set forth in 29 CFR part 1904. Therefore, the definitions used must be identical to ensure the uniformity of collected information. In addition, 1952.4 provides that employer variances or exceptions to State recordkeeping or reporting requirements in a State plan State must be approved by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Similarly, a State is permitted to require supplemental reporting or recordkeeping data, but that State must obtain approval from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to insure that the additional data will not interfere with "the primary uniform reporting objectives." The responsibilities of the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the reporting requirements covered by this final rule were transferred to OSHA as part of a memorandum of understanding between OSHA and BLS effective January 1, 1991.

In accordance with 1952.4, OSHA has allowed the States to vary from the "substantially identical" requirement in certain, limited circumstances, such as 1904.8 reports, as long as the State requirements were at least as effective as the Federal requirements as it relates to fatality and multiple hospitalization reporting. As discussed above, a number of the States have adopted fatality/catastrophe reporting requirements more stringent than those of OSHA.

[59 FR 15594, April 1, 1994; 59 FR 16895, April 8, 1994]