Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission OSHRC

The Occupational Safety and Health Act, signed on December 29, 1970, gave the Labor Department, through OSHA, power to set and enforce workplace safety standards. To keep enforcement and judgment separate, the same law created the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission as an independent agency to decide disputes over OSHA citations. This split-enforcement model, in which one agency prosecutes and another decides, was later copied for mine safety. The Commission has three members appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate to staggered six-year terms.

When an employer contests an OSHA citation, proposed penalty, or deadline for fixing a hazard, the case goes to one of the Commission's administrative law judges, who holds a trial-like hearing and issues a decision. Either side can then ask the three-member Commission to review it, and Commission decisions can be appealed to the federal courts of appeals. The agency handles roughly a couple of thousand new cases a year, most of them resolved through settlement, and offers simplified proceedings for small cases.

The Commission needs two members for a quorum, and it has repeatedly gone long stretches without one because of vacancies, leaving decided cases unable to be reviewed. Recent Supreme Court decisions limiting deference to agency interpretations and expanding the right to a jury trial in some agency penalty cases have raised new questions about agency adjudication, including this model. Supporters of the structure say separating prosecution from judgment protects employers' due process, while critics say chronic vacancies and delays undercut both workers and businesses.