Professional Ethics and Legal Responsibilities of Safety Professionals Flashcards

Under OSHA's multi-employer citation policy, a general contractor that has supervisory authority over site safety and can require subcontractors to correct hazards is classified as which type of employer?

Answer: Controlling employer

A controlling employer has general supervisory authority over the worksite, including the power to correct or require others to correct hazards.

A subcontractor's workers are exposed to an unguarded floor opening created by another trade. The subcontractor did not create the hazard and lacks authority to fix it. What is its minimum obligation to avoid citation as an exposing employer?

Answer: Ask the creating or controlling employer to correct it, inform its workers, and take reasonable alternative protective measures

An exposing employer must make reasonable efforts to have the hazard corrected, warn its employees, and use feasible interim protections.

Within how many hours must an employer report a work-related fatality to OSHA?

Answer: 8 hours

29 CFR 1904.39 requires fatalities to be reported to OSHA within 8 hours of the employer learning of them.

A CHST is asked by a project manager to backdate a fall protection training roster for an employee who was never trained. What is the ethically correct response?

Answer: Refuse, because falsifying records violates professional ethics and may be a federal crime

Knowingly falsifying OSHA-required records is prohibited by Section 17(g) of the OSH Act and violates the BCSP Code of Ethics.

Which OSH Act provision is used to cite an employer for a recognized serious hazard when no specific OSHA standard applies?

Answer: Section 5(a)(1), the General Duty Clause

Section 5(a)(1) requires employers to keep the workplace free of recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm.

An employer receives an OSHA citation and wants to formally contest it. How long does the employer have after receiving the citation to file a notice of contest?

Answer: 15 working days

Employers have 15 working days from receipt of the citation to file a written notice of contest.

Which ethical principle is violated when a safety technician accepts consulting fees from a scaffold vendor while recommending that vendor to their own employer without disclosure?

Answer: Avoiding undisclosed conflicts of interest

Professional codes require safety practitioners to disclose and avoid conflicts of interest that could compromise objective judgment.