Safety Tidbit 4.02 - A 5A1 Refesher

Safety Tidbit 4.02 – A 5A1 Refresher

Reference:        The OSHAct

                        OSHA Field Operations Manual

Under Section 5(a)(1), Duties, of the OSH Act, it states:

“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.”

This is the “general duty” under which OSHA may cite employers for recognized hazards for which a standard may not currently exist. This is the one that strikes fear into many employers as they may not realize a particular circumstance or material is hazardous. For instance, in the past year, OSHA’s Pittsburgh Area has issued thirteen citations using Section 5(a)(1) or the General Duty Clause as justification.

However, for OSHA to use the General Duty Clause four key items must be proved:

1.     The employer failed to keep the workplace free of a hazard to which employees of that employer were exposed;

2.     The hazard was recognized;

3.     The hazard was causing or was likely to cause death or serious physical harm; and

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

Number Two is the one that may be hardest for OSHA to prove “was the hazard recognizable?” In the OSHA Field Operations Manual, recognition is split into three main sources Employer Recognition, Industry Recognition, or “Common-sense” Recognition.

Employer recognition is easy. If the employer points out the problem or has operating procedures that say how a job is to be safely completed and it was not being done that way. Then that fits for employer recognition.

Secondly, industries commonly develop and publish methods to safely perform various tasks so that every company can take advantage of the lesson learned. National examples of industries might include the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

Lastly, is “common-sense” recognition. Hazard recognition can still be established if a hazardous condition is so obvious that any reasonable person would have recognized it. OSHA says this form of recognition is to be used in flagrant or obvious cases.

An example given by OSHA:

“In a general industry situation, courts have held that any reasonable person would recognize that it is hazardous to use an unenclosed chute to dump bricks into an alleyway 26 feet below where unwarned employees worked.”

Bottomline, OSHA can and do use the General Duty Clause to cite hazards. However, they must do a lot more investigation. Conversely, as Safety and Health professionals we must be vigilant in our learning to keep abreast of ever emerging industry knowledge of occupational hazards.

Hope this was helpful and thank you for reading my Safety Tidbits! Comments and questions are always welcome. ~ Bryan

P.S. If you have an interesting safety or health question please let me know.