OSHA Compliance

The Occupational Safety and Health Act was passed in 1970 and has been updated and expanded since.  Both the General Industry (CFR 1910) and Construction (CFR 1926) sections of the code detail extensive requirements on the part of employers with regard to providing employees with a reasonably safe workplace that free from recognized hazards that are likely to cause death or serious injury.  What is often overlooked in litigation is that workers as well as employers have obligations under the Act.  To quote from Section 5 of the Act: “Each employee shall comply with occupational safety and health standards and all rules, regulations, and orders issued pursuant to this Act which are applicable to his own actions and conduct.” OSHA’s position on this is that employees are required to comply with the policies and procedures of their employers with regard to the promotion and maintenance a safe workplace.

Many purported safety “experts” are unfamiliar with the OSHA requirements or have only limited familiarity in certain narrowly-bounded sections. A thorough understanding of the range of OSHA requirements and how OSHA interprets these requirements is critical in the litigation environment.  Understanding why particular rules are in place is often as important as knowing the rules themselves.  A thorough grounding in safety science is important in such cases.