The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Tennessee
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1972, Tenn. Code Ann. title 50, ch. 3
- Effective
- standing
- End
- standing (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- Standing (a statutory duty; in force throughout the six quarters)
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Workplace rulesStanding duty
- Addressees
- employers (every person engaged in a business with one or more employees, including county, metropolitan and municipal governments, sec. 50-3-103 as summarized on the page)
- Character
- workplace duty
- Collection
- Standing duties: Tennessee DUT-TN
Operative words
(1) Each employer shall furnish to each of its employees conditions of employment and a place of employment free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious injury or harm to its employees; (2) Each employer shall comply with occupational safety and health standards or regulations promulgated pursuant to this chapter.
Penalty
Civil penalties under secs. 50-3-402 to -408, including up to $7,000 per violation for a known serious endangerment not in compliance with a standard (sec. 50-3-403, Ex. DUT-TN-011)
What it required
Bound every Tennessee employer with one or more employees to furnish conditions and a place of employment free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious harm and to comply with TOSHA standards, which adopt 29 C.F.R. part 1910 by reference (Ex. DUT-TN-009); SARS-CoV-2 in the workplace was a recognized hazard from March 2020, so screening, distancing, sanitation, ventilation, exclusion of infected workers and respiratory protection were the means of a standing legal duty.
Retrieval noteText read in the saved exhibit (LawServer mirror, 'current as of 2024'). The Tennessee general duty clause tracks 29 U.S.C. 654(a)(1) word for word ('free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious injury or harm'). Tennessee operates an approved State plan; federal OSHA's COVID-19 guidance and enforcement memoranda in the library (AGY-FED-LABOR-IMMIGRATION series; FED-080) were applied in Tennessee by TOSHA.