Regulations, Standards, and Compliance
Regulations, Standards, and Compliance tests how well you navigate the legal architecture: the OSH Act, OSHA standards, consensus standards, environmental statutes, and reporting clocks. Items often present a fact pattern and ask whether it is a violation, a recordable case, or a reportable release.
The hierarchy
- OSH Act Section 5(a)(1), General Duty Clause: employers must furnish a workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious harm. It fills gaps where no specific standard applies.
- Section 5(a)(2): compliance with specific standards, e.g., 29 CFR 1910 for general industry, 1926 for construction.
- Incorporation by reference makes consensus standards enforceable; check the edition cited.
- Recordkeeping, 29 CFR 1904: OSHA 300 log, 301 incident report, 300A annual summary posted February 1–April 30. Report fatalities within 8 hours; in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye within 24 hours.
- Environmental: RCRA (cradle-to-grave waste), Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, EPCRA reporting, CERCLA release notification.
Worked example
An employee lifts a box, feels back pain, visits a clinic, and is prescribed a muscle relaxant with restricted duty. Is it recordable? Reasoning: the case is work-related and involves medical treatment beyond first aid (prescription medication), so it goes on the 300 log. If the same worker had only been given a butterfly bandage for a cut, that is first aid and not recordable. The decision hinges on treatment and work-relatedness, not on lost time alone.
Traps
- Treating ANSI or NFPA documents as law when they are not incorporated.
- Missing the 24-hour clock for amputations and hospitalizations.
- Calling stitches or prescription drugs "first aid."
- Assuming state-plan states match federal rules exactly.