The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission Aug. 19 upheld the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) multi-employer citation policy, which allows an inspector to cite an employer for an offense that does not expose its own workers to a hazard.
The commission’s decision agreed with an earlier decision by the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals which rejected the view that employers are only legally required to protect the safety of their own workers on a jobsite.
In the case, a general contractor on a project in Lebanon, Pa. in 2005 was cited under the multi-employer policy for providing electrical equipment to subcontractors that lacked ground fault circuit interrupters. The general contractor contested the fine and the citation policy, prompting the commission’s decision to uphold the policy.
To read OSHA’s multi-employer policy, visit the
OSHA website.
To read the commission’s decision click
here.