What Does
General Duty Clause Mean?
The General Duty Clause requires that employers provide their employees with a work environment free from recognized hazards that can cause serious physical harm or loss of life.
It is Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970 and an essential aspect of compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations.
As the name suggests, the General Duty Clause is a requirement applicable to every employer and is designed to ensure safe working conditions in the absence of specific standards.
Safeopedia Explains General Duty Clause
The General Duty Clause was incorporated to close loopholes in compliance at a time when hazard-specific rules were still being formulated. The clause is still in effect today, meaning that employers must protect their employees from any identified hazard, even if that hazard is not specifically addressed by OSHA.
Text of the General Duty Clause
The General Duty Clause states:
“Each employer shall furnish to each of his 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 his employees.”
Enforcing the General Duty Clause
After Congress passed the OSH Act of 1970, it mandated employers to comply with the health and safety standards under this law. Specific regulations were gradually being posted as new workplace dangers were recognized. The clause was included to fill in gaps in emerging safety regulations.
The enforcement of the General Duty Clause does not fall among the top safety violations and accounts for only 1.5% of all citations. This is mainly due to the fact that OSHA has now drafted many hazard-specific standards that cover the majority of occupational health and safety issues.
Conditions for Enforcing the General Duty Clause
OSHA can cite employers for failing to meet the General Duty Clause if four conditions are met:
- The employer did not control a hazard to which the employees were exposed. In the case of single employers, the case can be made without difficulty. However, when the workplace also includes contractors, OSHA will have to take into account the employer-employee relationship. Independent contractors are responsible for their own safety.
- The employer knew about the hazard. Logs detailing illness, injuries, and complaints to management can be used as evidence. OSHA can also refer to company memos, safe work rules, near misses, and safety inspection reports.
- The hazard caused or was likely to cause serious physical harm or death. Severe physical harm includes, among many other things, injuries requiring sutures, concussions, and hearing loss.
- Methods were available to correct the risk in a practical and feasible manner. The employer could have reasonably (including technically and financially) taken concrete steps to prevent exposure to the hazard.
Employers can anticipate some hazards that may violate the General Duty Clause by seeing which emerging issues are being investigated by OSHA for proposed rulemaking. Ergonomics and workplace violence are two such hazards that are targets for these violations.
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