The outcry about closing 18 OSHA field offices and the damage to enforcement and outreach turns out to be much ado about nothing.

In March, the Department of Government Efficiency listed 18 OSHA offices among its “lease terminations” and potential closures. Former OSHA chief Dr. David Michaels wrote a scathing editorial for ISHN explaining the dire consequences of the closings.

All the OSHA offices have been removed from the list.

The new came at a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing on June 5 featuring Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer answering questions about how OSHA would operate with a proposed $50 million budget cut requested by the Trump administration for fiscal year 2026. (She said enforcement capacity would be sustained through modernizing and streamlining operations.)  Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), ranking member of the committee, asked about the reported office closures and re-openings.

Chavez-DeRemer said the decision to terminate the leases and potentially close the offices was done by the General Services Administration before she was confirmed as secretary.

“We’ve worked with [GSA] specifically to have them understand the importance that statutorily we need to have [those offices open] in the Department of Labor,” she said.

The pivot on closing and now reopening OSHA’s 18 field offices is the second about-face in Washington regarding workplace safety and health politicking. Earlier in May there was the partial resurrection of NIOSH, the return of its director, Dr. John Howard, and the reinstatement of 328 employees in the NIOSH respiratory health division, division of safety research, division of compensation and analysis support, and the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory.