Occupational Safety and Health
This domain tests the OSH Act's duties, inspection and citation mechanics, recordkeeping, reporting deadlines, and the penalty structure.
Duties
- §5(a)(2): comply with specific standards (29 CFR 1910 general industry, 1926 construction).
- §5(a)(1), the General Duty Clause: where no standard applies, the employer must eliminate a recognized hazard likely to cause death or serious physical harm using feasible means of abatement. Heat illness and workplace violence are typically cited here.
- §5(b): employees must comply with applicable standards and rules.
Inspections and citations
A warrant is required if the employer objects (Barlow's). Citations must issue within six months of the violation (§9(c)); abatement dates and certification follow. Penalties, inflation-adjusted annually, run roughly $16,000 for serious and other-than-serious violations and $160,000 for willful and repeated violations - confirm the current figures. Employee protections include §11(c) anti-retaliation (30-day filing), walkaround rights, and protection for a good-faith refusal to perform imminently dangerous work.
Recordkeeping and reporting
Maintain OSHA 300 logs, 301 incident reports, and post the 300A summary from February 1 to April 30; record cases within seven days and retain records five years. Report a fatality within eight hours and an in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye within 24 hours.
Worked example
A worker collapses from heat in a non-air-conditioned warehouse and dies. There is no specific heat standard, so OSHA cites §5(a)(1): the hazard is recognized (NIOSH criteria), likely to cause death, and abatement is feasible (water, rest, shade, acclimatization). The employer also failed to report the fatality within eight hours, a separate violation. Both citations must issue within six months of the violation date; the death accelerates settlement value and may support a willful characterization if the employer knew of prior heat incidents.
Traps
- Using the General Duty Clause where a specific standard exists.
- Missing the eight-hour versus 24-hour reporting distinction.
- Confusing recording a case with reporting it to OSHA.
- Overlooking the six-month citation limit and §11(c)'s 30-day retaliation deadline.
- Forgetting state-plan states must be at least as effective as federal enforcement.