The General Duty Clause requires employers to keep their workplaces free from serious, recognized hazards that could kill or seriously injure employees.

What the General Duty Clause Says

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA’s General Duty Clause) states that each employer must provide “employment and a place of employment which is free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm” to employees. This duty applies to every employer covered by OSHA, not just high‑risk industries.

What It Requires Employers to Do

In practical terms, the General Duty Clause requires employers to:

  • Identify and recognize workplace hazards that could cause death or serious physical harm (using industry knowledge, incident data, consensus standards, etc.).
  • Take reasonable, feasible steps to eliminate or materially reduce those hazards (engineering controls, procedures, training, PPE, and other abatement measures).
  • Maintain a work environment that is free of serious hazards even when there is no specific OSHA standard covering that particular risk.
  • Protect only their own employees under this clause (it does not extend to every person on site).

OSHA can use the General Duty Clause to cite an employer when a serious, recognized hazard exists, workers are exposed, and the employer has not taken reasonable steps to correct it.

When OSHA Uses the General Duty Clause

OSHA typically relies on the General Duty Clause when:

  1. There is no specific OSHA standard that directly addresses the hazard.
  1. The hazard is recognized by the employer or the industry (for example, through guidance, consensus standards, or prior incidents).
  1. The hazard is causing or is likely to cause death or serious physical harm.
  1. There is a feasible and useful method of abatement that the employer failed to implement.

Examples include unmitigated heat stress, serious ergonomic risks, structural dangers, or workplace violence hazards that the employer knows about but does not reasonably address.

Why It Matters Today

In recent years, OSHA and safety professionals have emphasized the General Duty Clause to deal with emerging or complex hazards—such as workplace violence, extreme heat, and certain ergonomic issues—where formal standards may lag behind real‑world risks. For employers, it acts as a broad, catch‑all obligation to safeguard workers from serious harm, reinforcing that “no specific standard” is not a defense when a serious, recognized hazard exists.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.