Oregon Revised Statutes

Or. Rev. Stat. § 654.035 (2026)

Scope of rules and orders

✓ current as of May 2026

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654.035 Scope of rules and orders. (1) The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services may, by general or special orders, or by regulations, rules, codes or otherwise:

(a) Declare and prescribe what devices, safeguards or other means of protection and what methods, processes or work practices are well adapted to render every employment and place of employment safe and healthful.

(b) Fix reasonable standards and prescribe and enforce reasonable orders for the adoption, installation, use and maintenance of devices, safeguards and other means of protection, and of methods, processes and work practices, including, but not limited to, work practices qualifications for equipment, materials and activities requiring special competence, to be as nearly uniform as possible, as may be necessary to carry out all laws relative to the protection of the life, safety and health of employees.

(c) Fix and order reasonable standards for the construction, repair and maintenance of places of employment and equipment that will render them safe and healthful.

(d) Fix standards for routine, periodic or area inspections of places of employment that are reasonably necessary in order to determine compliance with all occupational safety and health laws and the regulations, rules and standards adopted under occupational safety and health laws. Except for complaint inspections, follow-up inspections, imminent danger inspections, referral inspections and inspections to determine the cause of an occupational death, injury or illness, all inspections shall be based on written neutral administrative standards. The standards shall include a prioritized scheduling system for inspections that predominantly focuses enforcement activities upon places of employment that the director reasonably believes to be the most unsafe. The standards shall be accessible to employers under ORS 192.311 to 192.478 for at least 36 months from the last date the standards are in effect. The director shall notify in writing each employer whose place of employment is rated by the director as one of the most unsafe places of employment in the state of the increased likelihood of inspection of the employer’s place of employment and of the availability of consultative services. The director may by rule offer incentives to employers that elect consultative services before an inspection is conducted. Nothing in this paragraph prevents the director from conducting a random inspection of a place of employment as long as the inspection is scheduled and conducted pursuant to written neutral administrative standards.

(e) Require the performance of any other act that the protection of the life, safety and health of employees in employments and places of employment may demand.

(2) The director may not require the use of fall protection by workers engaged in steel erection at heights lower than the heights at which fall protection relating to steel erection is required by federal regulation. [Amended by 1973 c.833 §11; 1987 c.884 §9; 1999 c.1017 §2; 2003 c.595 §§1,2; 2005 c.27 §§1,2; 2007 c.686 §1]

654.040 [Repealed by 1973 c.833 §34 (654.290 enacted in lieu of 654.040, 654.065, 654.070, 654.075 and 654.080)]

654.045 [Amended by 1973 c.833 §10; renumbered 654.031]

654.047 [Formerly 654.225; 1965 c.285 §82; repealed by 1973 c.833 §15 (654.067 enacted in lieu of 654.047, 654.222 and 654.232)]

654.050 [Amended by 1953 c.387 §2; 1957 c.436 §1; 1965 c.285 §69d; 1969 c.534 §1; 1971 c.251 §1; repealed by 1973 c.833 §19 (654.082 and 654.086 enacted in lieu of 654.050)]

654.055 [Repealed by 1973 c.833 §12 (654.056 and 654.078 enacted in lieu of 654.055)]

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 19 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1954–2021 · leading case: Oregon Occupational Saf. & Health Div. v. CBI Servs., Inc., 341 P.3d 701 (Or. 2014).

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Oregon Occupational Saf. & Health Div. v. CBI Servs., Inc., 341 P.3d 701 (Or. 2014). “025(2); ORS 654.035. It also authorizes the director to cite an employer for violations of those rules and to impose civil penalties.”

OR-OSHA v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., 494 P.3d 959 (Or. Ct. App. 2021). · cites it 2× “ORS 654.035(1)(a). OR-OSHA, exercising the authority delegated to it by the director, has promulgated rules setting safety and health standards for a vast range of workplaces and occu- pational activities.”

Miller v. Georgia-Pac. Corp., 662 P.2d 718 (Or. 1983). · cites it 2× “025 and ORS 654.035. These regulations are found in OAR chapter 437, which is designated as “The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Code.”

Shahtout v. Emco Garbage Co., 695 P.2d 897 (Or. 1985). “ORS 654.035 delegates to the director authority “by general or special orders, or by regulations, rules, codes or otherwise” to declare and prescribe safeguards and practices “well adapted” to render employment safe and healthful and to “fix” various standards and prescribe and…”

Oksenholt v. Lederle Labs., Etc., 656 P.2d 293 (Or. 1982). “In this approach, the Court of Appeals erred. We have held previously that violation of a safety regulation negates questions of foreseeability.”

Oregon Occupational Saf. & Health Div. v. Don Whitaker Logging, Inc., 985 P.2d 1272 (Or. 1999). “025; ORS 654.035. Under that grant of authority, the Director promulgated OAR 437-01-760(3)(c), which sets out the circumstances under which the state will hold employers responsible for the acts of their supervisors.”

Oregon Occupational Saf. & Health Div. v. Moore Excavation, Inc., 307 P.3d 510 (Or. Ct. App. 2013). “3 OAR 437-003-0001(24)(d) (9/26/07); see also ORS 654.035 (authorizing the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services to adopt such regulations).”

OR-OSHA v. A & B Sheet Metal Works, LLC, 461 P.3d 1094 (Or. Ct. App. 2020). “ORS 654.035; OAR 437-002-0360(21)(d). In 1978, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (federal OSHA) issued the final standard for occupational exposure to lead.”

Downey v. Traveler's Inn, 412 P.2d 359 (Or. 1966). “Plaintiff pleaded the following sections of the Basic Safety Code for the State of Oregon, which were promulgated under authority of ORS 654.035 by the State Industrial Accident Commission: 6.”

Oregon Occupational Saf. & Health Div. v. Port of Portland, 918 P.2d 448 (Or. Ct. App. 1996). “Moreover, ORS 654.035 authorizes the director to fix standards by which it may be determined that violations have occurred.”

Oregon Occupational Saf. & Health Div. v. Mad Creek Logging, 861 P.2d 365 (Or. Ct. App. 1993). “” ORS 654.035(1). Accordingly, we conclude that the referee erred in substituting his understanding of OR-OSHA’s rules for OR-OSHA’s expressed intentions with respect to the “cross-application” *459 of its rules.”

Davis v. Weyerhaeuser Co., 373 P.2d 985 (Or. 1962). “15 of the Basie Safety Code, which was promulgated pursuant to authority granted by ORS 654.035, says: “There must be no horseplay, scuffling, practical jokes or any other activity which will create or constitute a hazard.”

Show all 19 citing cases →

— Or. Rev. Stat. § 654.035(1) — 2 cases

Miller v. Georgia-Pac. Corp., 662 P.2d 718 (Or. 1983). “025 and ORS 654.035. These regulations are found in OAR chapter 437, which is designated as “The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Code.”

— Or. Rev. Stat. § 654.035(1)(a) — 1 case

OR-OSHA v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., 494 P.3d 959 (Or. Ct. App. 2021). “ORS 654.035(1)(a). OR-OSHA, exercising the authority delegated to it by the director, has promulgated rules setting safety and health standards for a vast range of workplaces and occu- pational activities.”

— Or. Rev. Stat. § 654.035(2) — 2 cases

Accident Prevention Div. v. Cascade Forest Prods., Inc., 721 P.2d 851 (Or. Ct. App. 1986).

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