Currently, OSHA only applies to private sector workers and state executive branch employees.
BOSTON -- The Massachusetts House on Wednesday passed a bill that would extend federal safety standards to municipal workers.
The bill, H.3952, would ensure that all state and local government workers are protected by the standards outlined in the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA).
Currently, OSHA only applies to private sector workers. State and local governments can set their own safety standards.
A 2014 law gave all executive branch employees OSHA protections. But state law does not extend those protections to city, town, higher education and authority workers, such as employees for quasi-public organizations like the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.
The bill was passed approximately a year after a trench collapse, attributed to lax safety standards, that killed two Boston workers.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, said that incident called attention to the safety standards that apply to workers, although that case would not have been affected by the proposed law.
"We've had a lot of input from workers around the state, from unions around the state, to do something about it," DeLeo said.
OSHA sets standards to protect workers from mechanical and chemical dangers in the workplace.
This bill would give an estimated 400,000 additional workers OSHA protections.
The Senate passed a similar bill earlier this month, and the Senate and House versions will have to be reconciled before the bill goes to Gov. Charlie Baker. The House bill passed unanimously, 150-0.
Under the bill, the governor would appoint an occupational health and safety hazard advisory board to evaluate injury-related data, recommend training and determine where additional health and safety resources are needed.