Occupational Safety and Health Law: Primary Law Sources

OSHA-related cases that reach the federal judicary can be found with other appelate and district court cases on Westlaw, Lexis Advance, or Bloomberg Law.

Occupational Safety & Health Review Commission decisions are available on Westlaw Edge or Lexis+, and from OSHRC itself.

Occupational Safety Review Commission ALJ Decisions are also available on Westlaw Edge, or Lexis+, and from the OSHRC itself.

Note that the OSHRC is a separate entity from OSHA.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act was originally passed in 1970, as Public Law No. 91-596. It is codified at 29 U.S.C. 651 et seq., and has been amended multiple times. You can see the current codification for free at http://uscode.house.gov/browse.xhtml, or use WesltawNext, Lexis Advance, or Bloomberg Law It is best to look at individual codified sections in an annotated code, such as West's United States Code Annotated or Lexis' United States Code Service.

You can find a legislative history of the original act on HeinOnline.

OSHA Standards are found in title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations. OSHA Standards are another name for OSHA regulations. The Code of Federal Regulations is available on WestlawNext, Lexis Advance, Bloomberg Law, and for free from the GPO. The law library also has a print version. 

For an example of a final rule / standard, take a look at the Respirable Silica Standard. 

Before they are codified in the Code of Federal Regulations, regulations (and associated APA-mandated explanatory material) are published in the Federal Register. The Federal Register is also available Westlaw and Lexis.

OSHA Standards of Interpretation are located on OSHA's website.

The OSHA Field Operations Manual is available on the OSHA website, at https://www.osha.gov/enforcement/directives/cpl-02-00-164, and also on Westlaw and BloombergLaw. You can find much information on OSHA's enforcement at https://www.osha.gov/dep/index.html.

When talking about the OSHA, practicioners often refer to sections of the Act rather than the U.S. Code section. This table shows where each section of the OSHA of 1970 is codified. Note that some sections are not codied.

* denotes a U.S. Code section is not derived from the Act.