OSHA’s New Era: Deregulation, Data-Driven Oversight, Fewer Inspections

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is the primary federal authority for ensuring worker safety across U.S. industries, including printing. Over the past decade, OSHA’s priorities have been shaped by a series of political and regulatory shifts due primarily to the changes in administration. Under the current Trump administration, there is an emphasis on reducing regulatory burdens on businesses and emphasizing voluntary compliance over proactive enforcement.

The administration is focused on streamlining inspections, limiting new regulatory initiatives, and curtailing the expansion of safety standards, particularly those perceived as costly or duplicative for industry. These policies are intended to support economic growth and reduce compliance costs for employers.

Key OSHA Developments Affecting Printers

Unlike what occurred under the first Trump administration, there is now a leader at OSHA. David Keeling was confirmed by the Senate in October 2025. He brings an industry-oriented safety management background as he worked at Amazon and UPS as a safety executive.

During his confirmation hearing, he identified goals around modernization, data-driven enforcement, collaboration, and using consensus standards. Keeling laid out a comprehensive vision for OSHA that includes:

• Modernizing regulatory oversight and rulemaking, particularly through the use of predictive analytics and informed design to prevent injuries before they occur. He emphasized the importance of data-driven enforcement, aiming to shift OSHA’s focus from reactive compliance to proactive risk mitigation.
• Revitalizing OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP), viewing them as underutilized tools for achieving meaningful safety outcomes.
• Promoting collaboration with employers, unions, and professional groups, breaking down silos to foster shared responsibility for workplace safety.
• Support for consensus standards, recognizing their rigor and adaptability compared to outdated regulations.

Keeling’s priorities also include addressing workplace violence and heat illness, with a commitment to engaging at-risk employers and employees before tragedies occur. Under this new approach OSHA will be prioritizing industries or individual companies with high-severity hazards and reducing routine inspections. This means that certain industrial sectors, including printing, now have an increased responsibility for self-managed hazard mitigation because a higher-than-average injury and illness rate will trigger an inspection.

On July 1, 2025, in a series of regulatory actions, OSHA published more than two dozen proposed rules that impact multiple industries. Although many of the proposals aim to modernize outdated standards, several signal a clear deregulatory shift particularly in how OSHA intends to scale back or withdraw certain long-standing obligations for businesses. Several of the proposals that could impact printing operations are:

• Removing the medical evaluation require-ment for employees using certain respirators such as filtering facepiece and loose-fitting powered air-purifying respirators.
• Withdrawing a requirement that would have added a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) column to the OSHA 300 Log and required companies to record such injuries.
• Removing certain OSHA safety color code and marking standards because the hazards addressed are already covered by other federal, state, and local requirements.

While technically a carry‑over from prior rulemaking efforts, the proposed regulation Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings, remains active. This proposed standard remains relevant for 2026 and beyond. The proposed rule would require employers to develop a heat‑injury prevention plan, monitor heat hazards, including indoor heat exposures from machinery or ovens, and implement controls (e.g., water, rest, shade, acclimatization).

Lastly, OSHA will be increasing maximum penalties starting in mid-January 2026. This increase is mandated by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. We should expect to see increases in all penalties such as Serious and Other‑than‑Serious violations, which are $16,550 per violation in 2025 and for Willful or Repeated violations, it is $165,514 per violation.

The increase in penalties has been slightly tempered by OSHA’s July 2025 guidance that expanded penalty‑reduction opportunities for companies. Small employers defined as up to 25 employees, may qualify for a 70% reduction. Medium or larger employers may receive smaller reductions, generally 10% to 30%, depending on the size of the company and the circumstances. Certain employers with no history of serious or willful violations may get up to 20% reduction. Hazards that are immediately corrected on the spot or within five days can receive a 15% reduction in the penalty.

Remaining Diligent

Even though OSHA is in the process of delaying new standards or modifying existing ones, compliance is still critical. The penalty structure is still directly linked to how a company manages hazards and responds to citations. Printing operations face risk from the continued, though reduced, oversight by OSHA unless they get identified as a high-risk facility, employee complaints, mandatory injury reporting, and financial pressures resulting from penalties and remediation costs if a citation is issued. If the citation is going to be contested, there could be additional costs associated with the process.

As OSHA curtails routine inspections of many workplaces, the number of inspections in printing due to employee complaints and injury reporting is expected to increase. This trend has been evident over the past several years and will continue. The main action item is to be prepared to respond whether you get inspected now or later.

What Printers Should Do Now

Here is an action plan for printing operations to stay ahead in this moment of uncertainty:

1. Conduct a Safety Gap Audit Against the Top Violations

• Review your chemical, ink, and solvent inventory, SDS management, employee training, hazard communication signage, and container labeling. Is there a written program, chemical inventory, employee training program, and a procedure for secondary container labeling.
• Review your makeready and servicing and maintenance equipment for Lockout/Tagout compliance. Is there a written program, up-to-date written procedures, documented annual reviews, and employee training and retraining?
• Review machine guarding on presses and other equipment. Are guards in place for hazardous areas (ingoing nip points), moving parts, are existing guards present, are interlocks defeated?
• Verify your powered industrial truck (forklift/powered pallet jack) training, evaluation, and reevaluation compliance. Ensure that initial training is being completed and documented as well as three-year competency demonstration program is in place.
• Confirm PPE assessments are documented, employees are trained, and PPE is provided and maintained.
• Check electrical safety compliance such as openings in junction boxes, missing breakers, breaker box labeling and clearances, wiring maintenance, proper grounding, power strip and extension cord usage, etc.
• Review eye and face protection policies during potential chemical exposure and flying particles.

2. Refresh and Document Training and Procedures

• Update or refresh your written procedures, ensure training records are current, conduct refresher training for production personnel, maintenance teams, and those handling materials and chemicals.
• Ensure your maintenance and operational staff understand your shop-specific Lockout/Tagout procedures, and that periodic testing/inspections are documented.

3. Monitor Complaints, Near-Misses, and Documentation

• If employees raise complaints about hazards or concerns, do not delay in responding as you may face follow-up if OSHA investigates. Document the complaint and actions taken to address it.
• Implement a near-miss or hazard-reporting program. Document incidents, repair or modification outcomes, and corrective actions. If OSHA comes asking later, documentation helps show due diligence and continuous improvement.

4. Align Safety Investments with Business / Financial Metrics

• Position safety improvements such as reducing downtime injuries, reducing insurance/workers’ compensation claims, and increasing uptime as part of your operational efficiency goals.
• Improving safety performance can help competitiveness or reduce your insurance premium (experience modification factor, workers’ comp rating).

5. Watch Regulatory Signals and Rulemaking Actions

• Keep an eye on OSHA proposals (e.g., heat stress injury and illness prevention), and on memos or guidance from OSHA. This will allow you to modify your current compliance program or start putting in a program before the deadline.
• Engage with PRINTING United Alliance and EHS or safety-profession networks, which may share alerts or proposed regulatory changes tailored to printing operations.

6. If Under a State-Plan OSHA, Review State-Specific Rules

• Some states maintain additional or more stringent rules or continue inspections more fully during shutdown periods. Confirm whether your state-plan OSHA program has different requirements compared to federal OSHA. The state plan states are Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming, along with Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

For printing operations, 2026 is not a time for complacency. While the federal shutdown has slowed some OSHA actions, OSHA now has new leadership and signals of modernization that may raise expectations in the future. Keeling has outlined a vision emphasizing targeted inspections, efficient use of agency resources, and a focus on high-risk industries and facilities. The risk of enforcement in printing has not gone away, especially in high-hazard areas like chemical safety and handling, machine guarding, Lockout/Tagout, and powered-truck operations.

There is an opportunity right now to use the relative lull in OSHA’s enforcement focus to audit, update, document, train, and align your safety program not just for compliance, but for continuous improvement, efficiency, and risk reduction. That will pay dividends if OSHA conducts an inspection and it results in in reduced injuries and illnesses, downtime, insurance and workers’ compensation cost, and safer operations overall. Under Keeling’s leadership, OSHA will encourage a culture where risk mitigation is not just compliance-driven but also central to operational efficiency and business sustainability.