Can OSHA Extend Statutory Deadlines During the Shutdown?

With the government shutdown, companies are unsure of how OSHA operations will proceed.

We turned to Philip Russell, who has provided insight to EHS Today in the past. Previously, he discussed how OSHA will look under the Trump Administration. 

And recently, he talked about what OSHA is up to this year, as part of a preview for his upcoming presentation at our Safety Leadership Conference, being held October 20-22 in Phoenix.

Recently, he posted some thoughts about OSHA operations during the shutdown. Below is commentary from a LinkedIn post. 

Can OSHA extend statutory deadlines during the shutdown?

No. The 6-month citation deadline and the 15-working-day contest period are in the OSH Act. OSHA cannot change that, but...

Yesterday, multiple OSHA offices across the country claimed they could extend those deadlines because of the shutdown. No, a government agency cannot change a statute under any circumstances. This is not even a close issue for OSHA and the OSH Act's statutory deadlines.

But this shows what we deal with all the time - just because OSHA tells you what the law is (or is not), you should always verify. An even better approach is to know your rights and responsibilities as an employer more than OSHA does. And you should also know what OSHA lawfully can and cannot - because sometimes the agency gets it wrong. Like this time.

One of the best strategies to avoid or minimize OSHA citations is to know the law better than the agency itself.