As most safety professionals already know,
The General Duty Clause, or Section 5(a)(1) of the OSH Act, is where OSHA's authority to compel employers to comply with "unwritten rules" arises, and it states that each employer:
shall furnish to each of [its] employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to [its] employees[.]
The General Duty Clause allows employers to be cited for exposing employees to conditions that create a hazard to health or safety risk for employees if the hazard is "recognized." According to Ogletree Deacons, the General Duty Clause is not applicable "if a standard specifically addresses the hazard cited."
Either way, to demonstrate that there was a violation, OSHA (legally speaking, the secretary of labor) must show that the workplace condition presented a hazard, the employer or the industry recognizes the hazard (either one or both), the hazard was likely to cause serious physical harm, and that there was a feasible and useful means of abatement that would eliminate or materially reduce the hazard.
OSHA will not cite an employer for a Section 5(a)(1) violation unless its employees are exposed to a hazard it created or controls. So, OSHA cannot cite an employer for a General Duty Clause violation under the Multi-Employer Citation Policy if the employer’s employees are not exposed to the hazard.
Industry recognition of a hazard typically comes in the form of a "consensus standard," such as a standard issued by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), or other, similar organization that issues guidance to an industry that is intended to impact health and safety in that industry.
In addition to noting industry and employer-specific knowledge, recognizing a hazard means that OSHA can show that the hazard is "obvious," which is what OSHA calls "common sense recognition." It is worth noting that OSHA enforcement policy restricts the application of this theory of recognition to "flagrant or obvious cases."
Learn more about the General Duty Clause by visiting the Ogletree Decaon blog (no affiliation).