Recruiting a Hurdle to Biden’s Goal of Doubling OSHA Inspectors

President Joe Biden’s goal of doubling OSHA’s inspection force to roughly 1,500 by 2024 faces daunting challenges—from recruiting and training people with the needed skills to convincing lawmakers to pay for the new positions.

The pandemic wreaked havoc on health-care workers and non-English-speaking immigrant workers in the manufacturing, agriculture, and meatpacking industries. The administration’s plans to increase inspectors is driven by frustration with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s inability to respond to an overwhelming number of worker complaints.

OSHA will now need to focus on hiring multilingual staff with an array of technical skills and understanding of workplace ...