Petitions to OSHA to limit medical resident work hours

Public Citizen, the Committee of Interns and Residents and the American Medical Student Association have repeatedly petitioned the federal workplace-safety agency OSHA to set legal work-hour limits for resident physicians, citing fatigue-related errors and injuries. The first petition in 2001 was denied when the medical accreditor ACGME set its own 80-hour cap in 2003; later petitions in 2010 and 2025 asked for 16-hour shifts and no averaging of weekly hours.

Years: 2001–now
Country: United States
Topic: Health workforce Patient safety Sleep
Asks people to: Support a policy
Strategy: Policy paired
Channel: Print Website
Audience: Clinicians
OSHA and CMS, Congress, resident physicians and medical students

Evidence

NoneUnknown

OSHA denied the 2001 petition in 2002, citing the ACGME's voluntary standards adopted in 2003. No response to later OSHA petitions confirmed.

Sponsor (who paid)

Public Citizen NGO
Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR/SEIU Healthcare) NGO
American Medical Student Association NGO

Credits (who made it)

Not recorded yet.

Related campaigns

Libby Zion case and the campaign to limit resident work hours 1984–1989

Sources

Petition to Reduce Medical Resident Work Hours (2010) sponsor · 2010
Public Citizen petitions OSHA and CMS to implement work-hour regulations for resident physicians (2025) sponsor · 2025

Research notes

Created 2026-10-24 by an AI research pass for #103 (G2); not reviewed by a person. 2001 petition and 2002 denial from search snippets. 2010 co-signers included Bertrand Bell, Charles Czeisler and Christopher Landrigan. To verify: petitions 30 Apr 2001, 2 Sep 2010, 20 May 2025; OSHA denial 2002; ACGME 80-hour cap 2003; asked-for 16-hour shift limit; CMS response 14 May 2026.

Record cases/public-citizen-resident-work-hours-petitions.json, updated 2026-10-24· Link to this campaign