On January 23, 2026, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Advocacy convened a Small Business Labor Safety (OSHA/MSHA) Roundtable to gather input from small businesses and their representatives on Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) regulations that may benefit from review, revision or modernization. TCIA and representatives from other small-business sectors participated to discuss several ongoing and anticipated regulatory activities.

SBA OSHA Roundtable
The SBA OSHA/MSHA Roundtable is a long-standing forum for small businesses, small nonprofits and small governmental entities to share regulatory concerns and recommendations related to OSHA and MSHA.

The Office of Advocacy (Advocacy) is responsible for ensuring agency compliance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act, which requires agencies to consider the economic impact of regulations on small entities and evaluate less-burdensome alternatives where appropriate. Input from these roundtables is often compiled by the SBA and used to inform Advocacy’s engagement with OSHA and MSHA, including the possible submission of recommendations for agency consideration.

This specific roundtable was convened in the context of recent presidential executive orders directing federal agencies to review existing regulations and identify opportunities for deregulatory or reform actions, including Executive Order 14192 (Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation), Executive Order 14219 (Ensuring Lawful Governance) and Executive Order 14267 (Reducing Anti-Competitive Regulatory Barriers). SBA used the meeting to hear directly from small businesses and their representatives about OSHA and MSHA regulations that may be excessively costly, outdated due to technological change or in need of modernization.

Separately, Advocacy also participates in Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) panels when agencies are developing certain rules that may have a significant economic impact on small entities, providing another formal mechanism for small-business input during the rulemaking process.

Opening remarks
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health David Keeling joined the roundtable to introduce himself and provide brief opening remarks. He acknowledged OSHA’s enforcement role and emphasized the importance of listening to small and medium-sized businesses. He also discussed the value of engagement and communication with small businesses and the use of tools beyond enforcement alone, to improve workplace safety outcomes and identify opportunities for improvement.

Issues raised
TCIA participated in the roundtable to advocate for OSHA to move forward with a Tree Care Operations standard and to meet the April 2026 target date for issuing a proposed rule. TCIA explained that, despite tree care being a recognized high-hazard profession, OSHA continues to regulate tree care operations through a patchwork of ill-fitting general industry standards and enforcement guidance developed for other industries. In the absence of a tree care-specific standard, OSHA frequently relies on the General Duty Clause to fill regulatory gaps, creating regulatory uncertainty and inefficiencies for small businesses. TCIA urged OSHA to promulgate a dedicated tree care operations standard based on ANSI Z133, the industry’s consensus safety standard, to replace – and therefore eliminate – the existing patchwork of rules with a single, clear and consistent regulatory framework.

Several other roundtable participants raised concerns over OSHA’s proposed Heat Illness and Injury Standard, which, if finalized, would require employers to implement a heat-injury-and-illness prevention program, monitor workplace temperatures and take protective measures (including water/shade and other controls), with additional “high heat” requirements triggered at specified thresholds, including mandatory rest breaks. Participants expressed concern about the rule’s rigidity and feasibility for small businesses, emphasizing the need for flexibility, performance-based approaches and industry-specific considerations. The comments provided by participants will inform SBA’s potential recommendations to OSHA on whether the proposal should be revised, supplemented or reissued, as the rule remains in the rulemaking process.

Participants also voiced concerns over Total Recordable Injury Rate (TRIR) and its disproportionate impacts on small employers. TRIR is an OSHA recordkeeping-based injury rate and is often used by the private sector to evaluate a business’s safety performance over time. Multiple roundtable attendees contended that TRIR does not accurately reflect injury severity or predict future safety performance, and that it disproportionately harms small businesses given its widespread use by third-party safety-vetting platforms. These concerns were raised to encourage SBA to consider whether changes or alternative measures should be recommended to OSHA.

Next steps
With the roundtable concluded, the SBA Office of Advocacy will collect and organize all information regarding issues raised before, during and after the meeting. SBA may submit formal recommendations to relevant labor agencies or follow up with OSHA based on small-business input.

TCIA will continue to track the progress of these issues and notify members of any significant developments.

Basil Thomson is a partner at Ulman Public Policy, TCIA’s Washington, D.C.-based advocacy and lobbying partner.