Multi-Employer Worksite

What It Means

OSHA's multi-employer citation policy (CPL 02-00-124) establishes how the agency assigns responsibility for hazards at worksites where multiple employers are present. This is particularly common in construction, where a general contractor may oversee dozens of subcontractors. Under this policy, OSHA can cite employers in four different roles: the Creating Employer (whose employees created the hazard), the Exposing Employer (whose employees are exposed to the hazard), the Correcting Employer (who is responsible for correcting the hazard by contract or trade practice), and the Controlling Employer (who has general supervisory authority over the worksite, typically the general contractor). An employer can be cited even if its own employees did not create the hazard, as long as OSHA can show the employer had a role in the hazardous condition. This policy is significant for construction companies because a general contractor can be cited as a Controlling Employer for hazards created by subcontractors if the general contractor could reasonably have known about and corrected the hazard. On OSHARecord, some companies accumulate violations partly because they operate large multi-employer worksites where they bear controlling employer responsibility.

Frequently Asked Questions