Regulatory Compliance and Standards
Core concepts
Compliance means meeting legal duties and applicable standards. Candidates should understand the difference between statute, regulation, and standard, and the roles of regulators, employers, supervisors, and workers. Know the general duty clause concept: employers must provide a safe workplace even where no specific rule applies. Understand the hierarchy of law and that standards may be voluntary but become mandatory by reference.
Applying compliance
Know the common employer duties: hazard assessment, training, recordkeeping, incident reporting, and worker consultation. Understand rights and responsibilities: workers have the right to know about hazards, to participate, and to refuse unsafe work in many jurisdictions. Supervisors have a duty to ensure compliance in their area.
Traps in questions
- Assuming compliance with a standard guarantees safety.
- Confusing voluntary standards with legal requirements.
- Forgetting recordkeeping and reporting timelines.
- Overlooking worker rights and consultation duties.
Rule of thumb
When a question asks who is responsible, remember that duties are shared but not equal: the employer holds the primary duty, supervisors enforce it, and workers must follow procedures and report hazards.
Worked example
A regulation requires guarding on a machine but is silent on lockout. The general duty clause may still require lockout during maintenance because the hazard is foreseeable. The trap is answering 'no rule, no duty'.