Denver — Acting OSHA administrator Amanda Wood Laihow recently provided details on how the agency will balance enforcement and compliance.
Laihow was the Occupational Keynote speaker on Tuesday at the 2025 NSC Safety Congress & Expo.
“We can’t achieve our mission with enforcement alone,” she told a capacity crowd in the Mile High Ballroom of the Colorado Convention Center. “That’s why we are taking a more balanced approach, one that values partnership and strong compliance assistance as central strategies alongside our traditional enforcement.”
As part of that compliance assistance, Laihow also mentioned the agency’s new Pathway to Safety and Health Success program.
According to OSHA’s website, that “pathway” is expected to include six steps:
- Increasing outreach to more employers, specifically small businesses
- Reimagining OSHA Challenge into a new, more robust Safety Champions Program that connects with volunteer safety and health professionals for advice and support
- Expanding the use of Special Government Employees
- Incorporating leading indicators
- Launching VPP Elite for workplaces that have maintained a level of excellence for more than 15 years
- Expanding VPP Safety and Health Management Systems (SHMS) to seven elements from four – something that many of OSHA’s Star VPP sites are already doing
“We will be sharing more details about these exciting changes in the coming months,” Laihow said. “Each step reflects our commitment to creating safer workplaces, working together and making sure every worker makes it home at the end of the day.”
She also mentioned other compliance assistance efforts, including:
- Updated search capabilities for letters of interpretation on OSHA’s website
- OSHA’s On-Site Consultation Program for small and medium-sized businesses
- Penalty reductions for employers, especially small businesses
Laihow also took part in a fireside chat with National Safety Council CEO Lorraine M. Martin. Among the subjects they discussed: technological changes, how interested stakeholders can connect with OSHA and how to address the leading cause of workplace fatalities: transportation incidents.
