OSHA Revises Field Operations Manual for Compliance Officers

The Field Operations Manual is the guiding document for OSHA’s compliance officers, whose mission is to assure the safety and health of American workers. The manual assists compliance officers in scheduling and conducting inspections, enforcing regulation, and encouraging continual improvement in workplace safety and health. The manual also guides compliance officers on how to inform employers about cooperative programs – such as On-Site Consultation, Strategic Partnerships and the Voluntary Protection Program – to help them eliminate potential or existing hazards from the workplace.

“The new Field Operations Manual is a comprehensive resource of existing OSHA policy and procedural documents,” said Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Thomas M. Stohler. “It gives compliance officers important guidance in implementing OSHA’s balanced approach to workplace safety and health: enforcement, education and training and cooperative programs. The Field Operations Manual will also be a resource for employees and employers, giving them a consolidated reference on how OSHA expects workplaces to be made safe and healthy. This is part of OSHA’s continuing commitment to make its standards and enforcement activities transparent and understandable to all parties."

The Field Operations Manual, formerly called the Field Inspection Reference Manual, constitutes OSHA’s general enforcement policy and procedures for use by the field offices in conducting inspections, issuing citations and proposingpenalties.