[Outgoing Mail]
[Dec 13, 2025 | Postscape #043]
President Trump’s administration is aggressively rolling back workplace safety rules and other regulations under the banner of deregulation. This means cutting laws and protections designed to keep workers safe on the job and ensure fair wages. The Department of Labor has proposed weakening more than 60 regulations that cover everything from mine safety, farmworker protections, and construction site rules to protections for home health care workers and people with disabilities. These rollbacks include limiting what employers must do to protect workers from known dangers and giving workers less say in choosing safety gear. Critics say this puts workers at greater risk of injury or illness because some regulations protect people from harmful substances or dangerous conditions that haven’t changed. Meanwhile, the administration argues these rules hold back economic growth and burden employers too much.
For Kentucky, a state with many workers in industries like coal mining, manufacturing, and agriculture, these deregulations hit home hard. Many Kentuckians rely on strong safety rules to prevent accidents and illnesses—without them, hospital visits and workplace injuries are likely to increase, costing families both health and income. Coal miners, farm laborers, and construction workers in Kentucky are among those most at risk from looser federal protections because their jobs involve exposure to dangerous conditions every day. Additionally, wage protections for home health workers—important in rural Kentucky—are being rolled back, which means fewer hours, less pay, and less support for some of the state’s most vulnerable workers. In everyday terms, these changes mean Kentucky’s workers face tougher, more dangerous jobs with fewer safeguards while their incomes and quality of life may suffer, deepening inequalities and making Kentucky’s working families more vulnerable.
[Sources]
https://www.epi.org/blog/trumps-department-of-labor-is-dismantling-key-workplace-protections/
https://www.livenowfox.com/news/trump-labor-deregulation-rules
https://www.morganlewis.com/pubs/2025/07/oshas-aggressive-deregulatory-efforts-begin
https://thedailyrecord.com/2025/07/22/labor-department-worker-safety-regulations-repeal/
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