Sheet 35Mix-up sheet · Incident investigation, JHAs and escalation
OSHA's multi-employer worksite policy for supervisors
On a shared site, OSHA can cite more than one employer for the same hazard. Its multi-employer citation policy, directive CPL 02-00-124, decides which ones by asking what role each employer plays (creating, exposing, correcting or controlling) and whether it met that role's duty.
One employer can hold several at once. A subcontractor that creates a hazard and then sends its own crew past it is both creating and exposing.
Hold it to that role's duty
Each role carries a different level of care. An employer that met the duty of its role is not cited, even though the hazard was real.
Cite each one that fell short
One employer's failure does not excuse another's, so a single unguarded hazard can produce citations to two or three firms.
Talking point 02
Four roles on one trench
Illustrative roles on a utility trench jobscroll →
Role
On this job
What the policy expects
Creating
The sitework sub that dug the trench and piled spoil right at its edge
Correct the condition it caused; it can be cited when only other firms' workers are exposed
Exposing
The plumbing sub whose pipe layers work in the trench
Ask the creating or controlling employer to fix it, tell its crew, and protect them another reasonable way, pulling them out if it must
Correcting
The shoring contractor hired to set and maintain the trench protection
Reasonable care in putting the protection in and keeping it right
Controlling
The general contractor, with overall authority over the site
Reasonable care to prevent and detect violations
Spoil belongs at least 2 feet back from the edge under the excavation rules, so the sitework sub created a hazard here before anyone entered the trench.
Talking point 03
Who owes what?
Some cards ask you to name the role. Others put you in the general contractor's boots and ask for the next move.
Card 1 of 6 · 0 right
Card 1
A laborer reports that a subcontractor's scaffold is missing guardrails, and the subcontractor's foreman refuses to fix them. What should the general contractor's supervisor do NEXT?
Pick an answer. A short note for each option, A to D, appears here.
ACorrect: the supervisor first keeps workers off the unsafe scaffold, then escalates to someone with authority over the subcontract.
BWaiting for the weekly meeting leaves workers exposed to a scaffold without guardrails for days.
CAltering another contractor's scaffold is work for trained erectors under a competent person, not whichever laborer is at hand.
DCalling OSHA bypasses the internal chain of command that can correct the hazard now.
Card 2
A controlling contractor wants a mechanical crew to hang ductwork on the floor directly below ironworkers who are bolting beams. What does OSHA's steel erection standard require?
Pick an answer. A short note for each option, A to D, appears here.
ASecuring loose items aloft is a separate duty that reduces, but does not eliminate, falling objects.
BHard hats cannot protect against heavy falling items such as connection pieces or bolt bags.
CA spotter can warn but cannot stop a dropped object from striking workers below.
DCorrect: the controlling contractor must bar other work below steel erection unless overhead protection is provided for those workers.
Card 3
Masons, electricians and painters will all work on the same floor next week. What is the BEST way to identify hazards created by their interaction?
Pick an answer. A short note for each option, A to D, appears here.
ASeparate JHAs look thorough, but each trade reviews only its own work and misses hazards created by the others.
BSeparate stairways solve one access issue but leave overhead work, shared spaces and hot work conflicts unaddressed.
CInspecting after work starts finds interaction hazards only once workers are already exposed.
DCorrect: a coordination meeting lets the trades and the controlling contractor spot interaction hazards and sequence the work before it begins.
Card 4
An electrical subcontractor removes a section of perimeter guardrail to pull wire, then leaves the opening unguarded when its crew leaves the floor. Another firm's drywall crew works nearby. What is the electrical sub under OSHA's multi-employer policy?
Pick an answer. A short note for each option, A to D, appears here.
ACorrect: The electrical sub caused the hazard by removing the guardrail, which makes it the creating employer under OSHA's multi-employer policy, even with none of its own workers exposed.
BNot here. The exposing employer is the drywall firm, whose workers are near the open edge.
CNot quite. A correcting employer is the one responsible for fixing a hazard, such as a guardrail contractor hired to maintain the rails.
DNot this firm. The controlling employer has general authority over the site, usually the general contractor.
Card 5
A construction manager has no crews on the project, but its contract lets it require subcontractors to correct hazards. A sub's trench has no protective system. Under OSHA's multi-employer policy, what is the construction manager's role?
Pick an answer. A short note for each option, A to D, appears here.
AA controlling employer can be cited even with no workers of its own exposed, if it did not use reasonable care.
BThe creating employer is the one that caused the hazard, here the sub that dug the trench.
CA correcting employer is engaged to fix or maintain a particular hazard, such as a shoring contractor, not to supervise the whole site.
DCorrect: Contractual authority to require others to correct hazards makes the construction manager the controlling employer, which owes reasonable care to prevent and detect violations.
Card 6
The steel erector has finished a floor and left its perimeter safety cables in place. The general contractor wants drywall crews to start work on that floor. Under the steel erection standard, what must happen before other trades rely on those cables?
Pick an answer. A short note for each option, A to D, appears here.
AA written statement from the erector does not transfer custody. The controlling contractor has to inspect and accept the cables.
BShift checks are useful, but the rule puts the decision on the controlling contractor, not on the trade using the area.
CWho installed the cables does not settle who answers for them once the erector leaves. The controlling contractor must accept them first.
DCorrect: The controlling contractor directs the erector to leave the protection in place, then inspects it and accepts responsibility for it before other trades use the area.
Talking point 04
Lines the policy draws
The controlling contractor is not automatically liable for every subcontractor violation, and it is not expected to inspect as often as an employer watching its own crew. How often is reasonable depends on the size of the project, the pace of the work, how quickly hazards change and the subcontractor's compliance record.
Some construction standards name the controlling contractor outright. In steel erection it must give the erector written notice that concrete and mortar have reached 75% of their intended minimum design strength, or enough strength to support the erection loads, before erection starts (29 CFR 1926.752). For permit spaces, it coordinates entry with the host employer and each entry employer (29 CFR 1926.1203(h)); the confined space entry sheet walks through who does what at the opening.
No. It is an OSHA enforcement directive, CPL 02-00-124, that tells compliance officers how to decide which employers to cite. The duties themselves come from the standards.
Does the policy set penalty amounts?
No. It decides which employers can be cited for a hazard. Penalties are set separately, and this sheet quotes none.