Washington — OSHA is slated for a 12% funding increase in the first Department of Labor budget request under President Joe Biden.

The request – released May 28 – allocates $664.6 million to OSHA in fiscal year 2022, which begins Oct. 1. The agency had a revised enacted budget of $591.2 million in FY 2021.

The Biden administration is proposing an 11.3% increase in federal enforcement, to $254.6 million from $228.7 million, and a 14.5% increase in federal compliance assistance, to $86.2 million from $75.2 million. That enforcement budget includes 155 new OSHA inspectors, called compliance safety and health officers. OSHA had the fewest number of inspectors in its 50 years – 752 – in FY 2019, according to a Bloomberg Law report published in November. That number increased to 790 in FY 2020.

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