West Virginia's workplace safety is severely understaffed, with just six federal OSHA inspectors responsible for overseeing more than 695,000 workers across roughly 60,000 workplaces, according to the AFL-CIO's annual 'Death on the Job' report. At current staffing levels, it would take the agency an estimated 186 years to inspect every workplace in the state once. In 2011, there were 10 inspectors covering the state.
The shortage has been highlighted by a fatal chemical reaction at Ames Goldsmith Catalyst Refiners near Charleston last month, which killed two workers. Federal records show the facility was cited for safety violations in 2018 but had not been inspected again before the incident. Josh Sword, president of the West Virginia AFL-CIO, said: 'It’s a capacity issue. There are fewer inspectors than there have ever been throughout the agency, and that makes workplaces less safe.'
Federal law does not require OSHA to inspect most private workplaces on a regular schedule. Instead, inspections are typically triggered by worker complaints or serious injuries. Some high-risk industries are targeted more frequently, but most workplaces can go years without inspection unless an incident occurs. In contrast, coal mines are subject to mandatory federal inspections multiple times a year under separate mine safety laws.
OSHA's federal budget has faced cuts under the Trump administration, with the U.S. Department of Labor requesting reduced funding and the elimination of dozens of full-time positions. Last year, officials proposed cutting more than 90% of the workforce at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, though the layoffs were later reversed. Nina Mast, a policy analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, said limited staffing has reduced OSHA's ability to proactively enforce protections, adding: 'There’s really no deterrent effect anymore because there’s so little capacity to do these inspections.'
The Kanawha Valley has seen multiple chemical incidents, including a 2008 explosion at a pesticide plant that killed two workers and a 2010 leak that killed another. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board has urged state officials to create a safety program to hold chemical manufacturers more accountable, but no such program has been implemented.
