Oregon Statutes 654.067 – Inspection of places of employment; comprehensive inspections; denial of access; warrants; safety and health consultation with employees
(1) In order to carry out the purposes of ORS § 654.001 to 654.295, 654.412 to 654.423 and 654.750 to 654.780, the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, upon presenting appropriate credentials to the owner, employer or agent in charge, is authorized:
Terms Used In Oregon Statutes 654.067
- Appraisal: A determination of property value.
- Department: means the Department of Consumer and Business Services. See Oregon Statutes 654.005
- Director: means the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services. See Oregon Statutes 654.005
- Owner: means every person having ownership, control or custody of any place of employment or of the construction, repair or maintenance of any place of employment. See Oregon Statutes 654.005
- Person: means one or more individuals, legal representatives, partnerships, joint ventures, associations, corporations (whether or not organized for profit), business trusts, any organized group of persons, the state, state agencies, counties, municipal corporations, school districts and other public corporations or subdivisions. See Oregon Statutes 654.005
(a) To enter without delay and at reasonable times any place of employment;
(b) To inspect and investigate during regular working hours and at other reasonable times, and within reasonable limits and in a reasonable manner, any such place of employment and all pertinent conditions, structures, machines, apparatus, devices, equipment and materials therein, and to question privately the owner, employer, agents or employees; and
(c) To conduct a comprehensive inspection of any place of employment as deemed necessary by the department based upon the prior violation history of the place of employment regarding any state occupational safety or health law, regulation, standard, rule or order.
(2) Whenever an accident investigation reveals that a violation has caused or contributed to a work-related fatality at a place of employment, the director shall conduct a comprehensive inspection of the place of employment within one year following the date on which the closing conference associated with the work-related fatality was held.
(3) Whenever three or more willful or repeated violations occur at a place of employment within a one-year period, the director shall conduct a comprehensive inspection of the place of employment within one year following the date on which the closing conference associated with the most recent willful or repeated violation was held.
(4) No person shall give an owner, employer, agent or employee advance notice of any inspection to be conducted under ORS § 654.001 to 654.295, 654.412 to 654.423 and 654.750 to 654.780 of any place of employment without authority from the director.
(5) Except in the case of an emergency, or of a place of employment open to the public, if the director is denied access to any place of employment for the purpose of an inspection or investigation, such inspection or investigation shall not be conducted without an inspection warrant obtained pursuant to ORS § 654.202 to 654.216, or without such other authority as a court may grant in an appropriate civil proceeding. Nothing contained herein, however, is intended to affect the validity of a constitutionally authorized inspection conducted without an inspection warrant.
(6) A representative of the employer and a representative authorized by the employees of the employer shall be given an opportunity to accompany the director during the inspection of any place of employment for the purpose of aiding such inspection. When there is no employee representative, or the employee representative is not an employee of the employer, the director should consult with a reasonable number of employees concerning matters of safety and health in the place of employment.
(7) The representative of the employer may, at the employer’s option, be an attorney retained by the employer.
(8) As used in this section:
(a) ‘Accident investigation’ means an official examination of a place of employment conducted by a compliance officer who is responsible for carrying out inspections and investigations on behalf of the department, that includes a systematic appraisal of an accident sequence to determine causal factors, corrective actions and preventative measures.
(b) ‘Closing conference’ means a process that informs the employer and the employee representatives, if any, of the findings resulting from an inspection of a place of employment and any other pertinent issues related to the inspection.
(c) ‘Comprehensive inspection’ means a substantially complete inspection of a place of employment that, in the professional judgment of the inspector who conducts the inspection, may be deemed comprehensive although not all potentially hazardous conditions, operations and practices within the place of employment are inspected. [1973 c.833 § 16 (enacted in lieu of 654.047, 654.222 and 654.232); 1999 c.1017 § 3; 2023 c.126 § 1]
[Repealed by 1973 c.833 § 34 (654.290 enacted in lieu of 654.040, 654.065, 654.070, 654.075 and 654.080)]