Safety Tidbit #7: OSHA's General Duty Clause

OSHA's General Duty Clause

Section 5 of the OSHAct of 1970 outlines duties for the employer.  Specifically, paragraph (a)(1) which specifies that each employer shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees.  We all know this paragraph as the “General Duty Clause” and violations as "5a1" violations.

It seems OSHA should be able to cite an employer for just about any hazard they could think.  So given this general duty on the part of employers why do we still have more than 4000 workers dying each year in the workplace and many more thousands diagnosed with work-related illnesses?  Ha, there is the rub, citing the General Duty Clause is not very straight forward, and OSHA’s Field Operations Manual delineates how compliance officers are to document conditions to justify a 5a1 violation.

The OSHA Field Operations Manual defines four core elements that a citation needs to support a 5a1 citation. First, the employer’s employees are /were exposed to the hazard. Second, the hazard was recognized. Third, the hazard was causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm, and fourth, there is a feasible and useful method to correct the hazard.

A.      Exposure to a 5a1 hazard involves two parts:

1.      Hazard

a.      A hazard is NOT the lack of a particular abatement method

b.      An incident or accident is not a hazard.  Remember - root-cause accident investigation.

c.      A hazard must be reasonably foreseeable by the employer. So it can’t be off the wall.

2.      Exposure (past or present) to the employer’s workers    

B.       The hazard must be recognized

1.      Industry recognition (this is the employer’s industry)

2.      Employer recognition

3.      Common-Sense recognition

C.       The hazard was causing or was likely to cause death or serious physical harm

1.      Must meet OSHA’s definition of a serious hazard

2.      Death is always good, however, think more broadly (e.g., a potential outcome of an OSHA 300 log recordable injury)

D.      There was a feasible and useful method to correct the hazard

1.      Again this more broadly, not just what the employer currently thinks. Take time for some training and education.

2.      Look at industry standards of care (ANSI, NFPA, CGA, etc.)

As you can see a lot goes into citing a hazard using the General Duty Clause, in essence, each time OSHA cites the General Duty Clause it is like a mini rulemaking.  Bear in mind, once OSHA goes through the rigger required and issues a 5a1 citation, the way is much easier for other compliance officers and consultants to use the information as a template if they find similar conditions in a workplace. 

To gather more information about the Dreaded General Duty Clause and see what types of hazards have been cited by OSHA using the General Duty Clause browse OSHA’s Inspection Data Search web page. You can query for your NAICS, your jurisdictional area or by a particular hazard category.