Takeaways from OSHA's 2026 update at the National Safety Council Safety Congress & Expo — and what they mean for your dealership or repair shop.
Every fall, OSHA uses the National Safety Council's Safety Congress & Expo to lay out where the agency is headed next. This year, in Indianapolis, Assistant Secretary of Labor David Keeling — joined by NSC CEO Lorraine Martin — sketched out an OSHA that looks noticeably different from the one many dealership operators grew up with. Less "gotcha," more partnership. But make no mistake: the enforcement teeth are getting sharper too, especially for repeat offenders.
Here's what stood out, and why it matters for fixed ops.
A More Targeted Enforcement Approach
Keeling was blunt about where OSHA plans to focus its energy: on the small minority of employers who consistently disregard safety. "In my experience, 97% or 98% of employers want to do the right thing," he told attendees, adding that it's not fair to paint every business with the same brush as the roughly 2% who are chronic violators.
To back that up, OSHA has hired more than 120 new front-line compliance officers since May — the agency's first significant hiring push since February 2023 — with more technical and compliance assistance staff to come.
For dealerships with a clean track record, this is good news: expect inspectors who are more interested in helping you get compliant than in "gotcha" citations. For dealerships with recurring OSHA history — repeat LOTO or hazcom violations, for example — expect more scrutiny, not less.
Compliance Assistance Is Coming to You
Keeling emphasized that inspectors will be spending more time on proactive, onsite compliance assistance rather than only showing up after a complaint or an incident. He was candid that OSHA needs to do a better job helping employers — particularly smaller ones — understand what's expected of them before something goes wrong, including guidance on how to make the case for safety investment to ownership and the C-suite.
If an OSHA compliance assistance specialist reaches out to your store, that's not automatically a red flag, it may be exactly the kind of proactive relationship the agency is trying to build.
VPP and the New "Safety Champions" Program
OSHA wants more employers in its Voluntary Protection Program (VPP), which recognizes sites with strong safety management systems. The new “Safety Champions” initiative, rolled out alongside OSHA Cares, is designed to widen that funnel and give more mid-sized and smaller operations, including dealerships, a realistic path toward recognition, not just the largest manufacturing plants. The “Safety Champions” initiative is a proactive model that is very similar in concept to KPA’s Key Performance Indicator metric system to showcase a path of proactiveness.
Fleet Safety Gets a Seat at the Table
This one should get every dealership's attention. Transportation incidents remain the single leading cause of workplace death, 37% of all workplace fatalities, a number that's barely moved in three decades. Keeling confirmed OSHA wants to work more closely with the Department of Transportation on fleet safety.
For dealerships, "fleet" isn't abstract, it's test drives, service loaners, parts runnerss, tow trucks, and mobile service vans. If OSHA and DOT start aligning more closely on roadway safety expectations, driver training, vehicle maintenance records, and fleet policies may get more attention as part of a facility's overall safety picture. This will also include dealerships who send technicians out to customers who perform routine maintenance on fleet vehicles.
"We Want Every Employee to Go Home" — Whole-Person Safety
OSHA Cares reflects a broader shift toward what Keeling called total worker health, physical and mental. That included specific mention of wanting OSHA to be part of the conversation on mental health and suicide prevention in high-hazard industries like construction, and an interest in updating ANSI first-aid-kit guidance to reference naloxone, which OSHA would then point to in its own interpretation letters.
This is a meaningful shift in tone for an agency historically associated with hard hats and citations, not employee wellbeing. Service and parts departments often stressful, deadline-driven environments are a natural place to start thinking about this proactively.
Lockout/Tagout: A 40-Year-Old Standard Meets Modern Equipment
Few standards matter more to a service department than lockout/tagout, and OSHA knows the current rule hasn't kept pace with technology. The core LOTO standard dates back to 1989 and was written for a world of simple electromechanical equipment, not computer-controlled lifts, electric vehicle maintenance, diagnostic systems, and increasingly automated shop tools.
OSHA's stated goal is to work with equipment and machine manufacturers to "engineer at the hazard", building safer energy control methods directly into new equipment design, rather than relying purely on after the fact lock and tag procedures. Don't expect a new rule overnight, but this is a standard worth watching, especially for shops investing in newer lift and diagnostic equipment.
Data-Driven Enforcement: SIF and STCKY
OSHA is leaning harder into analytics to prioritize inspections around Significant Injuries and Fatalities (SIF) and what Keeling's team is calling "STCKY" (Stuff That Can Kill You). In practice, that means OSHA is trying to focus its limited inspection resources on the hazards most likely to seriously hurt or kill someone, rather than spreading attention evenly across every possible violation.
For a dealership, that likely means lockout/tagout, machine guarding, crushing hazards from vehicles and lifts, perennial top-10 categories stay squarely in focus.
Embracing AI, Not Fighting It
In a notable break from the image of a slow-moving regulator, Keeling said flatly that OSHA "can't be afraid of AI" and plans to lean into it, both as a tool the agency itself uses and as something it expects employers to be thinking about as it shows up on shop floors and in fleet operations.
What's Next on the Regulatory Agenda
Beyond LOTO modernization, OSHA's active rulemaking agenda includes:
- Tree care standards
- Emergency response requirements for response teams
- Heat illness prevention — Keeling was notably tight-lipped, but did say he believes there's "a path to a heat regulation"
- Naloxone in first-aid kits, via an ANSI standard update OSHA would reference in interpretation guidance
The Bottom Line for Dealerships and Repair Shops
OSHA's message this year was consistent: partnership first, enforcement focused on the worst actors, and a more proactive approach that starts before an inspector ever knocks on your door. But "more proactive" also means OSHA expects you to be more proactive too, about LOTO on aging lift equipment, about fleet safety for every vehicle that leaves your lot, and increasingly, about the mental wellbeing of your team.
If your dealership is doing business with outside contractors or vendors, Keeling's guidance applies there too: ask not just what happened in the past, but what they're doing now to prevent the next incident
How KPA Can Help
Staying ahead of a changing OSHA doesn't require an overhauled safety program overnight — it requires the right partner. KPA's combination of compliance software, on-demand training, and 150+ EHS consultants is built specifically for the two-business reality of a dealership: variable ops and fixed ops, one roof. From modernizing your lockout/tagout procedures on newer lift equipment, to building a fleet safety program that covers test drives and loaners, to preparing your team for a more proactive, compliance-assistance-focused OSHA, KPA helps translate these shifting federal priorities into practical, everyday steps for your service and parts departments.
To find out where your dealership stands today, contact KPA at 866-356-1735 or info@kpa.io.
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