Warren and House Democrats urge OSHA to drop plan to weaken worker respirator rules

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and other Democratic lawmakers are asking the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to drop a plan that would weaken rules on respirator masks for workers, The Guardian reported Thursday. ¹ OSHA is the federal agency that sets workplace safety standards. It sits inside the Department of Labor. ¹

The lawmakers wrote to OSHA chief David Keeling, a former UPS and Amazon executive. They say employers would face fewer requirements to provide respirators for work with substances including “lead, asbestos, formaldehyde and inorganic arsenic, among other chemicals.” ¹

What the proposal would do

The letter says OSHA also wants to end the requirement that employers provide medical evaluations to workers who wear certain types of respirators. ¹ A medical evaluation checks whether a worker can safely wear a mask.

A compliance-industry summary of the July 1, 2025, proposal says the evaluation requirement would be dropped for workers who use only filtering facepiece respirators, such as N95s and P100s, and loose-fitting powered air-purifying respirators. ² It says evaluations would still be required for tight-fitting and supplied-air respirators. ²

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OSHA argues that no large studies show these evaluations work for the lighter masks. It also says that 2 percent or fewer workers failed such evaluations in late-1990s data. ²

Democrats cite speed and process

The lawmakers say OSHA issued the proposal in July 2025 without required evidence. They also say it held a procedural hearing in August, during a congressional recess, when no lawmakers were on Capitol Hill. ¹

The lawmakers' letter to OSHA said most OSHA standards take years to move through the same steps these respirator rules have moved through in a matter of months. ¹

The letter was also signed by Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Cory Booker, and Reps. Pramila Jayapal, Rashida Tlaib and Jasmine Crockett. More than 20 other congressional Democrats signed as well. ¹

Opposition beyond Democrats

Groups that have warned OSHA against pulling back include the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health, the American Industrial Hygiene Association, National Nurses United and North America’s Building Trades Unions. ¹

The Associated General Contractors of America, a construction trade group, also objected. It said “quality safety regulations save contractors money in the long run.” ¹

The stakes for workers

More than 5,000 Americans die each year from occupation-related respiratory illnesses. Rates of silicosis and coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, known as black lung, have been rising. The causes include artificial stone used for countertops and more silica exposure in coal seams. ¹

The lawmakers call the respirator proposal part of a wider deregulation push. They say the Department of Labor proposed more than 60 deregulatory rule changes last year. ¹

Republicans have proposed cutting OSHA’s budget by more than 8% for fiscal year 2027. In 2025, OSHA inspections dropped 20%, and the agency lost 223 full-time employees to buyouts and early retirements. ¹

The proposal has not been finalized. The Guardian’s report does not say when OSHA might issue a final rule.

That matters because many older workers stay in construction, manufacturing and maintenance jobs. Lung damage from dust and fumes can show up years later, and a medical check can catch problems early. ¹

The Record

1. Jul 1, 2025OSHA published a proposed rule to remove medical evaluation requirements for some respirator users ²
2. Oct 29, 2026Warren, Omar and more than 20 other Democrats urge OSHA to abandon the respirator rollback ¹

Sources

1. The Guardian, “Democratic lawmakers decry Osha's push to roll back worker respiratory protections” (2026-10-29). theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/29/warren-lawmakers-osha-wo
2. J. J. Keller Compliance Network, “Behind the mask: OSHA proposes to loosen its respirator standard” (2025-07-01). jjkellercompliancenetwork.com/news/behind-the-mask-osha-prop

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