Minnesota OSHA State Plan (MNOSHA): what a contractor needs to know

Who the MNOSHA plan covers

The Minnesota State Plan applies to private-sector workplaces in the state with the exception of:

1. Offshore maritime employment;
2. The enforcement of the field sanitation standard, 29 CFR 1928.110 , and the enforcement of the temporary labor camps standard, 29 CFR 1910.142 , 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 U.S.C. 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, except that Minnesota 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;
3. Any establishment owned or operated by an Indian tribe or by an enrolled member of an Indian tribe within an Indian reservation or on lands held in trust by the Federal Government. (Non-Indian businesses on reservations and trust lands are covered by the State);
4. Contract employees and contractor-operated facilities engaged in United States Postal Service mail operations;
5. Employment on land under exclusive federal jurisdiction adjacent to land formerly occupied by the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant. (The land formerly occupied by the plant is under State jurisdiction); and
6. All working conditions of aircraft cabin crewmembers onboard aircraft in operation.

In addition, any hazard, industry, geographical area, operation or facility over which the State is unable to effectively exercise jurisdiction for reasons not related to the required performance or structure of the plan shall be deemed to be an issue not covered by the finally approved plan, and shall be subject to federal enforcement.

Federal OSHA covers the issues not covered by the Minnesota State Plan except for the enforcement of the field sanitation and temporary labor camp standards which is the responsibility of the Wage-Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor. Federal OSHA covers Federal government employers, including the United States Postal Service. The Minnesota State Plan covers State and local government employers and employees. 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. MNOSHA also investigates private and state and local government workplace retaliation cases under a provision analogous to Section 11(c).

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

Hazard communication in Minnesota

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 Minnesota State Plan on June 8, 1973 (38 FR 15077); final approval under section 18(e) came on July 30, 1985 (50 FR 30832), amended Jan. 17, 1997 ( 62 FR 2561 ) and June 9, 2000 ( 65 FR 36622 ).
• A summary of the Minnesota State Plan is codified at 29 CFR 1952.8.
• OSHA lists 6 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 32 standards Minnesota wrote for itself, 17 of them in construction.
• Hazard communication in Minnesota runs through Minn. R. 5205.0010 (adoption) + the Employee Right to Know rules.
• In FY2025 (October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025), MNOSHA issued 435 construction citations in 178 inspections, with $1,220,470 in current penalties (OSHA cited-standards tool).