Regulatory Compliance and Standards
The legal landscape
In the U.S., the OSH Act of 1970 created the employer's general duty to furnish a workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm, and the specific duty to comply with promulgated standards. General industry falls under 29 CFR 1910; construction under 1926; recordkeeping under 1904. Roughly half the states run OSHA-approved state plans that must be at least as effective as federal OSHA and may be stricter.
Consensus standards vs. law
ANSI/ASSP, NFPA, and ISO documents are voluntary consensus standards. They become enforceable only when incorporated by reference into a regulation, adopted by a state plan, or used as evidence of hazard recognition under the general duty clause. ACGIH TLVs are guidance, not legal limits; OSHA PELs are the enforceable numbers.
Recordkeeping and reporting numbers to memorize
- OSHA 300 log, 301 incident reports, 300A annual summary posted February 1 through April 30.
- Fatality: report within 8 hours.
- In-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye: report within 24 hours.
- First-aid-only cases are not recordable.
Traps
Mixing the 8-hour and 24-hour clocks. Treating a consensus standard as a citationable violation on its own. Forgetting the multi-employer worksite doctrine, which can reach creating, exposing, correcting, and controlling employers.
Rule of thumb
Consensus standard = best practice. OSHA standard = legal duty. Only one of them produces a citation by itself; the other becomes relevant when it proves a hazard was recognized.