The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced on October 1 it completed the restructuring of its regional offices.

OSHA’s most significant change is the creation of a Birmingham, Alabama, regional office responsible for employer assistance, inspection, and enforcement in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and the Florida Panhandle. Kentucky and Tennessee are the only states in the Birmingham region with their own state occupational safety and health programs.

The agency said the regional restructuring will strengthen its presence in the Southeastern United States. According to the agency, businesses have grown in or relocated to the region, and their workforces have expanded. OSHA intended to bring its offices closer to communities that need the agency’s services. It expects the restructuring to reduce agency response time to complaints, fatalities, imminent danger, and significant events.

Last week, the agency cautioned recovery and cleanup crews in Alabama, Florida, and other Southeastern states about the hazards caused by fallen trees, flooding, power loss, storm debris, and structural damage following a hurricane. Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 storm east of the Florida Panhandle in the state’s “Big Bend” region.

The Birmingham region will be headed by Regional Administrator Dorinda Hughes and Deputy Regional Administrator Jack Rector. According to OSHA, Hughes has served as a deputy regional administrator, an area director, and an assistant area director since joining OSHA as a compliance assistance specialist in 1991. Rector has served as an OSHA safety and health compliance officer, assistant area director, and area director since joining the agency in 2003. Hughes and Rector both come to Birmingham from OSHA’s Region 10 office in Seattle.

The agency’s Region 10 has been merged with OSHA’s Region 9 to form a San Francisco regional office. OSHA’s regions have also been renamed. Regions will no longer be referred to by numbers (1 through 10), using geographical designations instead. In addition to the Birmingham and San Francisco regions, OSHA has renamed its other regions:

• Region 1 becomes the Boston region.
• Region 2 becomes the New York region.
• Region 3 becomes the Philadelphia region.
• Region 4 becomes the Atlanta region.
• Region 5 becomes the Chicago region.
• Region 6 becomes the Dallas region.
• Region 7 becomes the Kansas City region.
• Region 8 becomes the Denver region.

California’s heat response

On October 1, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) cautioned the state’s employers to protect workers from high heat as high temperatures are forecast across California.

Temperatures are expected to reach up to 114° Fahrenheit (F) this week, peaking in the Coachella, San Joaquin, and San Fernando valleys; Los Angeles and Santa Monica; Imperial and Santa Barbara counties; Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area; San Luis Obispo and Salinas; San Bernardino; and Palm Springs.

The state has long had a heat illness prevention standard for outdoor employment, and this summer, it added an indoor heat illness prevention standard. Cal/OSHA hosted a Safety Series Workshop in San Bernardino on September 27 about indoor heat illness protections, warehouse hazards, and other key issues, bringing together unions, community-based organizations, advocates, employees, and others.