North Carolina Official Warns Federal Shutdown Threatens Worker Safety

North Carolina’s Republican labor commissioner is urging Senate Democrats to end the ongoing federal government shutdown, warning that unless OSHA grants to states are restored, North Carolina will be forced to furlough safety inspectors, putting the state’s workers at risk. Some legal experts, however, say the effects of the shutdown on worker safety are rather limited, especially in states that rely fully on OSHA to conduct inspections, because routine inspections represent a fraction of employer interactions in any given year...