[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 79 (Friday, April 24, 2026)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 21963-21965]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-08108]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
29 CFR Part 1952
Puerto Rico State Plan; Operational Status Agreement; Change in
Level of Federal Enforcement: Private Sector Employment on Federal
Properties and Marine Construction Conducted by Private Sector
Employees
AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor.
ACTION: Notification of revisions to the Puerto Rico State Plan's
Operational Status Agreement (OSA) and change in level of federal
enforcement.
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SUMMARY: This document announces a new OSA between the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Puerto Rico State Plan,
which specifies the areas of State Plan responsibility and delineates
continuing federal responsibilities. This document further gives notice
of OSHA's approval of a change to the Puerto Rico State Plan
reinstating federal OSHA enforcement authority over private-sector
employment on federal properties and marine construction conducted by
private sector employees.
DATES: Effective Date: April 24, 2026.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
For press inquiries: Francis Meilinger, Director, OSHA Office of
Communications, U.S. Department of Labor; telephone: (202) 693-1999;
email: [email protected].
For general and technical information: Arlene Williams, Acting
Director, OSHA Directorate of Cooperative and State Programs, U.S.
Department of Labor; telephone: (202) 693-2200; email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Section 18 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (the
OSH Act), 29 U.S.C. 667, provides that States that wish to assume
responsibility for developing and enforcing their own occupational
safety and health standards may do so by submitting and
[[Page 21964]]
obtaining federal approval of a State Plan. State Plan approval occurs
in stages that include initial approval under Section 18(c) of the Act
and, ultimately, final approval under Section 18(e). In the interim,
between initial approval and final approval, there is a period of
concurrent federal/state jurisdiction within a state operating an
approved plan.
Puerto Rico administers an OSHA-approved State Plan to develop and
enforce occupational safety and health standards for public-sector and
private-sector employers, pursuant to the provisions of Section 18 of
the OSH Act. The Puerto Rico Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (PR OSHA) was designated as the state agency responsible
for administering the State Plan. PR OSHA is part of the Puerto Rico
Department of Labor and Human Resources which is headed by Maria del
Pilar V[eacute]lez Casanova. The Puerto Rico State Plan received
initial federal OSHA approval as a developmental State Plan under
Section 18(c) of the OSH Act on August 15, 1977 (42 FR 43628).
Subsequently, on September 7, 1982, federal OSHA issued a Certification
of Completion of Developmental Steps for the Puerto Rico State Plan (47
FR 39164).
Pursuant to Section 18(e) of the OSH Act, as implemented by 29 CFR
1954.3, OSHA and Puerto Rico entered into an initial OSA dated December
8, 1981 (47 FR 25323), whereby concurrent federal enforcement authority
was suspended with regard to federal occupational safety and health
standards in issues covered by the State Plan.
II. Notification of New Operational Status Agreement
On September 25, 2025, OSHA and the Puerto Rico Department of Labor
and Human Resources signed a new OSA, replacing the previous one. The
new OSA makes several changes to the respective coverage between
federal OSHA and PR OSHA, as described below.
The revisions to the OSA were initially precipitated when, on April
4, 2025, Puerto Rico's Assistant Secretary of Labor, Nelvin Rodriguez-
Sanchez, sent a letter to OSHA to state PR OSHA's belief that it lacks
the occupational safety and health resources to provide coverage for
private sector employees performing work in the following
circumstances: on land, property, or space that the federal government
owns or leases where federal employees are regularly present for the
purpose of performing their official duties; at federal government-
owned contractor-operated sites; on federal property under
construction; and marine construction performed by private sector
employees. Under the existing OSA, federal OSHA only had coverage of
enforcement related to contractors or sub-contractors on federal
establishments when the State Plan could not obtain entry, and federal
OSHA did not have coverage over marine construction conducted by
private sector employers. In PR OSHA's letter, the State Plan requested
a change in coverage and sought confirmation that federal OSHA will
always provide coverage over private sector employees in both of these
circumstances. After discussions between federal OSHA and the Puerto
Rico State Plan on this issue, both agencies agreed that federal OSHA
coverage of such private-sector employers on property owned or leased
by the federal government in Puerto Rico and marine construction
conducted by private sector employees was the best solution to ensure
prompt and effective protection of these workers. Accordingly, notice
is hereby given of this change in federal enforcement authority, and
coverage is transferred from the Puerto Rico State Plan to federal
OSHA. This change is memorialized in the 2025 OSA, which now states
that federal OSHA has enforcement authority in these circumstances.
While reviewing the existing OSA in response to this coverage
change request from the Puerto Rico State Plan, it was determined that
several other revisions and clarifications to the OSA were also needed.
First, it has long been the case that federal OSHA exercises
enforcement authority over private sector employers within the secured
borders of all U.S. military installations where access is controlled,
and PR OSHA has enforcement authority over state and local government
employers on such military installations. However, this division of
coverage was not previously specified in the 1981 OSA. Accordingly,
that provision was added to the 2025 OSA for thoroughness and clarity.
Second, the existing 1981 OSA did not have provisions reflecting
coverage changes that occurred after it became effective, including
that federal OSHA covers federal government employers, including the
United States Postal Service (USPS), as well as contractors and
contractor-operated facilities engaged in USPS mail operations, and
that federal OSHA covers all working conditions of aircraft cabin
crewmembers onboard aircraft in operation. Accordingly, provisions
identifying both of those as subject to federal OSHA coverage were also
added to the 2025 OSA.
Third, the 1981 OSA contained several sections discussing aspects
of the Puerto Rico State Plan un-related to the respective coverage
between federal OSHA and PR OSHA, including, for example, OSHA's
determination that the Puerto Rico State Plan had achieved operational
status and various commitments that the State Plan made to continue as
an operational State Plan moving forward. OSHA no longer includes this
kind of information in more modern OSAs and instead focuses the content
of the OSA on its stated purpose, i.e., to set forth the scope of the
exercise of federal authority by delineating areas of state versus
federal responsibility. Accordingly, the 2025 OSA no longer contains
sections discussing those aspects of the Puerto Rico State Plan that do
not relate to the scope of federal coverage. However, the removal of
those sections from the 2025 OSA does not change any of federal OSHA's
determinations on the State Plan's operational status, nor the State
Plan's ongoing obligations.
Fourth, the 1981 OSA had a provision noting that federal OSHA would
retain coverage over any open cases remaining from federal inspections
conducted prior to the ``operational status'' of the Puerto Rico State
Plan. Because PR OSHA has now been operational for over forty years,
there are no longer any open federal cases falling within this
provision, therefore it was determined this provision was no longer
necessary and it has been deleted from the 2025 OSA.
Fifth, the 1981 OSA had a provision noting that federal OSHA could
exercise its authority to enforce new standards until such time as the
State Plan adopted a comparable standard and a provision noting that
Federal OSHA could exercise its authority to enforce new standards that
are particularly unique or complex. As is common in more modern OSAs,
these specific provisions have been removed and replaced with a more
general provision noting that federal OSHA can inspect and take
appropriate enforcement action in extraordinary circumstances or when
the State Plan is not able to fully or effectively exercise its
enforcement authority, which could include both situations, among
others.
Sixth, the 2025 OSA includes a new provision that notes that
federal OSHA can exercise its authority to inspect and take appropriate
enforcement action at an entire project or facility where federal and
State Plan authorities both have enforcement authority in the interest
of administrative practicability.
[[Page 21965]]
The provision states that federal enforcement may be exercised
immediately upon agreement between federal OSHA and the State Plan.
This provision was not included in the 1981 OSA but is a standard
provision federal OSHA has found helpful with experience over the past
several decades to include in more modern OSAs. Accordingly, it has
been added to the 2025 OSA.
Finally, the 1981 OSA contained a provision noting that OSHA would
publish a notice in the Federal Register to describe instances of
resumed federal enforcement authority. This provision has been removed
from the 2025 OSA, as it is redundant of existing notice obligations
OSHA has codified in State Plan-related regulations. Accordingly, it is
no longer necessary to include this provision in the OSA.
Effective immediately, federal OSHA and PR OSHA will exercise their
respective enforcement authorities according to the terms of the 2025
OSA between them. As detailed in the 2025 OSA, federal enforcement
responsibility under the OSH Act will continue to be exercised with
regard to: federal government employers, including the United States
Postal Service (USPS), as well as contractors and contractor-operated
facilities engaged in USPS mail operations; private sector employers
within the secured borders of all United States military installations
where access is controlled; all working conditions of aircraft cabin
crewmembers onboard aircraft in operation; private sector employers
performing work on federal government owned or leased property where
federal employees are regularly present, at federal government-owned
contractor-operated sites, and construction on federal property; marine
construction conducted by private employers; all maritime employment,
including shipyard employment, marine terminals, and longshoring;
situations where PR OSHA is refused entry and is unable to obtain a
warrant or enforce the right of entry; and situations where PR OSHA is
temporarily unable to exercise its enforcement authority fully or
effectively. Federal responsibility will also continue to be exercised
with regard to investigation and inspection for the purpose of carrying
out the monitoring obligations under Section 18(f) of the OSH Act, 29
U.S.C. 667(f), as implemented by 29 CFR part 1954, and the enforcement
of complaints filed with federal OSHA under the OSH Act's whistleblower
provision, Section 11(c), 29 U.S.C. 660(c). The exceptions to the
Puerto Rico State Plan's occupational safety and health coverage are
listed on OSHA's website at https://www.osha.gov/stateplans/pr.
III. Authority and Signature
David. Keeling, Assistant Secretary for the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, authorized the
preparation of this notice. OSHA is issuing this notice under the
authority specified by Section 18 of the Occupational Safety and Health
Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 667), Secretary of Labor's Order No. 07-2025 (90
FR 27878), and 29 CFR parts 1902 and 1953.
Signed in Washington, DC, on April 16, 2026.
David. Keeling,
Assistant Secretary for the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA).
[FR Doc. 2026-08108 Filed 4-23-26; 8:45 am]
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