Safety Tidbit #45 – Multi-Employer Worksites

Safety Tidbit #45 – Multi-Employer Worksites

Reference: OSHA Directive - CPL 02-00-124 Multi-Employer Citation Policy

In a brief paragraph (page 3-19) in OSHA’s Field Operations Manual they state the following:

“On multi-employer worksites (in all industry sectors), more than one employer may be cited for a hazardous condition that violates an OSHA standard. A two-step process must be followed to determine whether more than one employer is to be cited. See CPL 02-00-124, Multi-Employer Citation Policy, December 10, 1999, for further guidance.”

Step One: Determine whether the employer is a creating, exposing, correcting, or controlling employer. Always remember that any employer can be any or all of these roles.

Step Two: If the employer meets one of the types of employers in Step One were the employer’s actions sufficient to meet their regulatory obligations? The extent of the actions required of employers varies based on which category applies. Note that the extent of the measures that a controlling employer must take to satisfy its duty to exercise reasonable care to prevent and detect violations is less than what is required of an employer with respect to protecting its own employees. 

So what are the four categories of employers:

The creating employer is an employer that causes a hazardous condition that violates an OSHA standard (this includes the General Duty Clause).

The exposing employer is an employer who has employees in harm’s way.

The correcting employer is responsible for correcting hazards on a worksite.

The controlling employer has general supervisory authority over the worksite with the power to correct safety issues or require others to correct the hazard.

I think the most tenuous type of employer is the Controlling Employer especially in general industry. For example, when an employer contracts work out (or sub-contracts as the case may be) and puts language into their contracts that tell the contracted employer must follow all applicable safety regulations. This simple statement does not absolve the employer of responsibility.  Actually, they become a controlling employer by definition. 

As the controlling employer they must ensure they conduct periodic inspections of the worksite to become aware of hazards; second, implement an effective system to promptly correct hazards; third, enforce the compliance of contracted employers.

So, as an employer, if you have a particularly nasty job and decide to contract the work out so you don’t expose your own employees, remember your responsibilities as the controlling employer.  Ultimately, you must be diligent in your duty to challenge the contracted company’s safety procedures to ensure no worker (yours or someone else’s) is hurt at your facility.

Thanks for reading and I hope this was informative ~ Bryan