The Occupational Safety and Health Act (Act) was enacted to regulate workplace safety and health. The Act is administered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The Act and its accompanying regulations identify a significant number of recognized hazards and establish safety and health standards to address them. OSHA standards are classified into four different groups, known as the agriculture, construction, maritime and shipyard, and general industries. However, even when no standard specific to a recognized hazard applies, the Act imposes certain safety and health responsibilities on employers through a provision that is commonly known as the OSHA “general duty clause.”

1. This Compliance Overview is not intended to be exhaustive nor should any discussion or
opinions be construed as legal advice. Readers should contact legal counsel for legal advice.
EMPLOYERS VIOLATE THE GENERAL
DUTY CLAUSE IF:
• They fail to keep the workplace free
of a hazard;
• The hazard was recognized;
• The hazard caused or was likely to
cause death or serious physical
harm; and
• There was a feasible and useful
method to correct the hazard.
USE OF GENERAL DUTY CITATIONS
• In situations where a recognized
hazard is created by conditions or
practices not covered by a specific
OSHA standard
• If willful or repeated violations
occur (violations must otherwise
qualify as serious violations)
• Cannot be used to impose
standards stricter than current
OSHA standards
OSHA’s General Duty Clause
The Occupational Safety and Health Act (Act) was enacted to regulate
workplace safety and health. The Act is administered by the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
The Act and its accompanying regulations identify a significant number
of recognized hazards and establish safety and health standards to
address them. OSHA standards are classified into four different groups,
known as the agriculture, construction, maritime and shipyard, and
general industries.
However, even when no standard specific to a recognized hazard
applies, the Act imposes certain safety and health responsibilities on
employers through a provision that is commonly known as the OSHA
“general duty clause.”
OSHA’s general duty clause requires covered employers to provide a
safe work environment, free from recognized hazards, to their
employees, if those hazards are causing or are likely to cause death or
serious physical harm.
LINKS AND RESOURCES
• OSHA list of employer responsibilities
• OSHA help for employers website
Provided by SterlingRisk

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This Compliance Overview is not intended to be exhaustive nor should any discussion or opinions be construed as legal advice.
Readers should contact legal counsel for legal advice.
© 2016 Zywave, Inc. All rights reserved. JPA 06/16
GENERAL DUTY REQUIREMENTS
The general duty clause requires employers to provide each employee with a work environment that is “free from
recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm.” In general, OSHA and
courts across the United States have established that employers violate the general duty clause if:
1. They fail to keep the workplace free of a hazard to which employees 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.
All four of the conditions described above must be present before OSHA can issue a citation under the general
duty clause. A “hazard” is a workplace condition or practice to which employees are exposed that creates the
potential for employee death or serious physical harm.
Hazard Recognition
Hazards may be recognized by employers, the industry in which an employer operates or through common sense.
To establish employer recognition, there must be evidence that the employer knows or is aware of hazardous
conditions or practices. To establish industry recognition of a hazard, evidence needs to show that the employer’s
relevant industry is aware of the hazard in question. Recognition by an industry other than the employer’s relevant
industry is not sufficient to establish recognition. The table below presents a list of records, studies, statements
and other evidence OSHA may consider to establish employer or industry recognition:
Employer Recognition Industry Recognition
• Written or verbal statements made by management or
supervisors (including internal memos);
• Operation manuals, safety work rules and standard
operating procedures that specifically identify the hazard;
• Collective bargaining agreements;
• Prior incidents, accident and near miss reports known to the
employer;
• Injury and illness reports and workers’ compensation data;
• Prior OSHA inspections;
• Grievances or safety committee reports;
• Frequent employee complaints (complaints cannot be off-
hand comments); and
• Employer-initiated corrective actions (regardless of whether
the employer adequately continued or maintained the
corrective action or whether the corrective action provided
adequate protection to the employees).
• Safety or health experts who are familiar with
the relevant conditions (regardless of
whether they work in the employer’s
industry);
• Evidence that other members of the industry
have implemented abatement methods to
deal with the hazard;
• Manufacturers’ warnings and other literature;
• Statistical or empirical studies conducted by
the employer’s industry;
• Government and insurance industry studies
(the employer or the industry must be
familiar with the studies and recognize their
validity);
• State or local laws; and
• Industry participation in drafting national
consensus standards.

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This Compliance Overview is not intended to be exhaustive nor should any discussion or opinions be construed as legal advice.
Readers should contact legal counsel for legal advice.
© 2016 Zywave, Inc. All rights reserved. JPA 06/16
Common sense recognition can only be used if employer recognition and industry recognition cannot be
established and only in flagrant or obvious cases. To establish common sense recognition, the hazard must be
sufficiently obvious so that a reasonable person would recognize it.
APPLICABILITY OF THE GENERAL DUTY CLAUSE
OSHA can enforce the general duty clause only when no hazard-specific standard applies and in situations where a
recognized hazard is created in whole or in part by workplace conditions or practices that are not covered by a
standard. The general duty clause may also apply in employment situations that are inherently dangerous, such as
fire brigades, emergency rescue operations and confined space entry.
OSHA limits general duty citations to incidents that can be classified as willful or repeated violations that would
otherwise qualify as serious violations. OSHA does not use the general duty clause to issue other-than-serious
citations.
Finally, while the general duty clause cannot be used to impose stricter requirements that the ones already
imposed by OSHA’s standards, employers may violate their general duty when existing standards are inadequate
to protect worker safety and health. Citations under these circumstances are possible only if all the conditions
mentioned before are met, and the employer knows that the standard was inadequate to protect employees from
death or serious physical harm.
Example 1
Hazard partially covered by OSHA standard
Example 2
General duty cannot impose stricter requirements
Construction employee exposure to a collapse hazard
because of a failure to properly install reinforcing steel.
Construction standards contain requirements for
reinforcing steel in wall, piers, columns, and similar
vertical structures, but do not contain requirements for
steel placement in horizontal planes, such as a concrete
floors. A failure to properly install reinforcing steel in a
floor in accordance with industry standards and/or
structural drawings could be cited under the general
duty clause.
An OSHA standard provides for a permissible exposure
limit (PEL) of 5 ppm, and a recognized Occupational
Exposure limit (OEL)—such as an ACGIH® Threshold
Limit Value (TLV®) or NIOSH Recommended Exposure
Limit (REL)—of 3 ppm.
A 5(a)(1) citation may only be considered for exposures
between the OEL and the PEL if the data establishes
that exposures at the measured level are likely to cause
death or serious physical harm and the employer has
actual knowledge that the PEL is inadequate to protect
its employees.
MORE INFORMATION
Contact SterlingRisk or visit the OSHA website for more information on OSHA compliance.