OSH Act of 1970

The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (Public Law 91-596) is the foundation of workplace safety law in the United States. It created OSHA — the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, within the Department of Labor — and NIOSH, the research institute that recommends (but does not enforce) exposure limits.

This page explains the Act’s core duties and how SteadyOn helps you meet them. It is not legal advice.

Who the Act covers

The Act covers most private-sector employers in the 50 states and all US territories, including employers with a single employee. Notable exclusions:

Self-employed people with no employees
Immediate family members working on a family farm
State and local government employees — unless a State Plan extends coverage to them
Workplaces regulated by another federal agency under a different statute (for example, mining under MSHA)

Federal government agencies are covered by a parallel programme under §19 rather than by citation.

§5(a)(1) — the General Duty Clause

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.

This single sentence is the most important provision in the Act, because it applies to hazards that no specific standard addresses. OSHA has used it to cite employers over heat illness, workplace violence, ergonomic injuries, and combustible dust — all areas where no dedicated federal standard exists.

To sustain a General Duty Clause citation, OSHA must establish four things:

A hazard existed in the workplace
The hazard was recognised — by the employer, by the industry, or as a matter of common sense
The hazard was causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm
A feasible means of abatement existed

The practical consequence for you is that “there is no OSHA standard for this” is not a defence. If a hazard is known in your industry and something reasonable could be done about it, you are expected to do it.

This is where a hazard register earns its keep. A documented hazard, with an assessed risk level and a recorded control, is direct evidence that you identified the hazard and made a reasoned decision about it.

§5(a)(2) — the duty to comply with standards

Employers must comply with the occupational safety and health standards OSHA publishes. Those standards are detailed and industry-specific — see 29 CFR 1910 General Industry Standards for the ones most workplaces encounter.

Where a specific standard covers a hazard, that standard governs and the General Duty Clause does not apply to it. The General Duty Clause fills gaps; it does not override.

§5(b) — the employee duty

Employees must comply with the standards, rules, and orders that apply to their own conduct. In practice OSHA does not cite employees, and this provision does not shift responsibility away from the employer — an employer cannot defend a citation by pointing at an employee’s non-compliance unless it can show a genuine, enforced safety programme (the “unpreventable employee misconduct” defence, which requires documented rules, communication, and consistent discipline).

Documented training records and a written programme are what make that defence available at all.

§11(c) — protection against retaliation

Employers may not discharge or discriminate against an employee for exercising rights under the Act — including filing a complaint, requesting an inspection, participating in an inspection, or raising a safety concern internally.

Complaints must be filed with OSHA within 30 days of the retaliatory act. This is a short window, and OSHA takes these cases seriously.

The practical implication: make it easy and safe for workers to raise concerns, and keep a record that you did. A hazard reported through a system with an audit trail is much better evidence of a functioning safety culture than one raised verbally.

Inspections, citations, and penalties

29 CFR 1903 governs how OSHA inspects. Inspections are usually unannounced, and are prioritised roughly as: imminent danger, fatality or catastrophe, worker complaints and referrals, programmed inspections targeting high-hazard industries, then follow-ups.

Citations are classified by gravity:

Classification	Meaning
Other-than-serious	A violation with a direct relationship to safety and health, but unlikely to cause death or serious harm
Serious	A substantial probability of death or serious physical harm, which the employer knew or should have known about
Willful	Intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the Act
Repeated	A substantially similar violation to one previously cited
Failure to abate	The cited condition was not corrected by the abatement date

Penalty amounts are adjusted for inflation annually, so check OSHA’s current published figures rather than relying on a number in any documentation.

Employers have 15 working days from receiving a citation to contest it before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Worker rights you must support

Under the Act and its standards, workers are entitled to:

Working conditions free of known serious hazards
Receive information and training about hazards in a language they understand
Review records of work-related injuries and illnesses (see OSHA Recordkeeping)
Request an OSHA inspection, and speak to the inspector privately
Access their own exposure and medical records (1910.1020 — see US Privacy)
Raise concerns without retaliation

The OSHA “Job Safety and Health: It’s the Law” poster must be displayed where workers can see it. This is a free poster from OSHA and a common finding in inspections when it is missing.

How SteadyOn helps

Duty	How SteadyOn supports it
§5(a)(1) — identifying recognised hazards	Hazards module: hazard register, risk matrix, review dates
§5(a)(1) — feasible abatement	Hazards — control measures; Actions for corrective work
§5(a)(2) — complying with standards	Inspections module: build checklists against the standards that apply to you
§5(b) / employee misconduct defence	Training Courses + Enrollments; the Log’s audit trail
§11(c) — a safe route to raise concerns	Any member can report a hazard or incident; the public reporting link allows anonymous reports
Inspection readiness	The Log page gives a complete, timestamped record of who changed what and when
Worker access to injury records	Incidents module (note the 300 log itself is not yet supported — see OSHA Recordkeeping)

Where to go next

29 CFR 1910 General Industry Standards — the specific rules most workplaces must follow
OSHA Recordkeeping — what you must record and report
State Plans and Cal/OSHA — whether a state agency regulates you instead