Occupational Safety and Health Standards for General Industry (OSHA 501)
What this domain tests
OSHA 501 is the trainer course built on 29 CFR Part 1910. The exam checks whether you can locate the right standard, apply its trigger conditions to a real workplace fact pattern, and explain it accurately to adult learners. Expect questions that pair an OSH Act obligation with the specific 1910 subpart that enforces it, and questions where two plausible standards compete.
Core rules to have at your fingertips
- OSH Act Section 5(a)(1) - the General Duty Clause: a workplace free of recognized hazards causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm. It only applies when no specific standard governs the hazard; it is never a substitute for a cited standard that exists.
- Section 5(a)(2) - the duty to comply with promulgated standards.
- 1910.147 (LOTO) - applies to servicing and maintenance where unexpected energization or release of stored energy could injure. Requires energy control procedures for each machine, employee training, and a periodic inspection at least annually.
- 1910.212 - machine guarding for normal operation; point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts.
- 1904 recordkeeping - record on the 300 log within 7 calendar days of learning of a case; report a fatality within 8 hours and an in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye within 24 hours.
- 1910.132–138 - PPE selection by hazard assessment, employee training, and employer payment for required PPE except non-specialty safety-toe footwear and non-specialty prescription eyewear.
Worked example
A mixer operator reaches in to clear a jam; the machine restarts. The employer has no written energy control procedure. The correct citation is 1910.147(c)(4), not guarding alone: the task is servicing during which unexpected energization could injure, so LOTO controls. 1910.212 would attach to the unguarded point of operation during production, and the absent annual periodic inspection adds 1910.147(c)(6).
Traps that cost marks
- Mixing up 1910.147 (servicing/maintenance) with 1910.212 (production guarding).
- Confusing the 7-day recording clock with the 8-hour and 24-hour reporting clocks.
- Invoking the General Duty Clause where a specific standard already covers the hazard.
- Assuming training alone satisfies a standard that also demands a written program, procedure, or inspection.