Iowa OSHA State Plan (Iowa OSHA (IOSH)): what a contractor needs to know

Who the Iowa OSHA (IOSH) plan covers

The Iowa State Plan applies to all private sector workplaces in the state with the exception of:

1. Maritime employment, including shipyard employment, marine terminals, and longshoring;
2. Contract workers and contractor-operated facilities engaged in United States Postal Service mail operations;
3. The enforcement of the field sanitation standard, 29 CFR 1928.110 and the enforcement of the temporary labor camps standard, 29 CFR 1910., with respect to any agricultural establishment where workers are engaged in "agricultural employment" within the meaning of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, 29 USC 1802(3) – regardless of the number of workers – including workers engaged in hand packing of produce into containers, whether done on the ground, on a moving machine, or in a temporary packing shed. An exception is that Iowa retains enforcement responsibility over agricultural temporary labor camps for workers engaged in egg, poultry, or red meat production, or the post-harvest processing of agricultural or horticultural commodities;
4. Federal government-owned and contractor-operated military/munitions facilities;
5. Bridge construction projects spanning the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers between Iowa and other states;
6. Any hazard, industry, geographical area, operation or facility over which the State Plan is unable to effectively exercise jurisdiction for reasons not related to the required performance or structure of the plan; and
7. All working conditions of aircraft cabin crewmembers onboard aircraft in operation.

The Iowa State Plan also applies to state and local government employers. It does not apply to federal government employers, including the United States Postal Service. Federal OSHA covers the issues not covered by the Iowa State Plan except for the enforcement of the field sanitation and temporary labor camp standards which is the responsibility of the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor. In addition, federal OSHA retains enforcement of the anti-retaliation provision of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, Section 11(c), 29 USC 660(c), with respect to the private sector. The State Plan also investigates private and state and local government workplace retaliation cases under a provision analogous to Section 11(c).

Source: OSHA, Iowa State Plan, read October 1, 2026.

Hazard communication in Iowa

The federal compliance dates and how each State Plan adopted HCS 2024 are compared on HazCom deadlines 2026 and in HCS 2024 deadlines by State Plan. The rule every other State Plan cites is in the State Plan HazCom rule map.

Penalties and appeals

Key facts

• OSHA first approved the Iowa State Plan on July 20, 1973 (37 FR 19370); final approval under section 18(e) came on July 2, 1985 (50 FR 27243).
• A summary of the Iowa State Plan is codified at 29 CFR 1952.6.
• OSHA lists 7 exceptions to the plan's private-sector coverage, and federal OSHA covers what the plan does not.
• Federal OSHA keeps enforcement of the anti-retaliation provision of section 11(c) of the OSH Act for the private sector, according to OSHA's page for the plan.
• OSHA's page lists 2 standards Iowa wrote for itself.
• Hazard communication in Iowa runs through Iowa Admin. Code r. 481—210.4(88) (Adoption by reference).
• In FY2025 (October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025), Iowa OSHA (IOSH) issued 286 construction citations in 88 inspections, with $796,346 in current penalties (OSHA cited-standards tool).