According to OSHA, inspections at Colorado cannabis businesses begin "later this month" and will be based on random selection and complaints received from various sources. Jacqueline Collins
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Colorado’s marijuana industry has largely avoided oversight from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) since commercialized pot took hold here over ten years ago, but those days are about to end.
In a letter shared with the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED) and then sent to business owners across the state, OSHA alleged that cannabis industry workers "are exposed to a variety of serious hazards and regularly suffer from serious injuries and illnesses." Citing exposure to risks involving fire, chemicals, electricity, machinery and toxic breathing, the federal agency is ready to step in and regularly inspect state-legal cannabis operations.
According to OSHA, inspections at Colorado cannabis businesses will begin "later this month" and will be based on random selection and complaints received from various sources; facilities that work with hemp and CBD will be under inspection, as well.
The MED alerted Colorado marijuana business licensees to OSHA’s looming presence in late September, but OSHA started reaching out to businesses earlier this year, according to OSHA regional director Chad Vivian. Although retail marijuana sales have been legal in Colorado since 2014 and medical marijuana facilities have been operating for over sixteen years, this is the first time OSHA will be asserting its authority in such a manner.
While OSHA inspectors would occasionally visit Colorado cannabis businesses "if there’s an incident" involving worker safety, Vivian says the agency started planning more regular inspections in 2023.
"We haven’t specifically targeted them up until this point, and we would like to address that a little more thoroughly through some targeted enforcement," he says. "It just took some time to get a program in place, to address it. We created this emphasis program last year."OSHA’s cannabis business inspections won’t dive into licensing issues or many cannabis-related rules, but might have "some overlap with the fire department," Vivian adds."We’re totally separate from any of that. All we look at is worker safety. It’s kind of a whole set of separate […]
OSHA to Begin Regular Inspections of Colorado Marijuana Facilities
