OSHA Terminology, Part 1, Certified.

Hello everyone,

Over the next few posts, I will address some terms from the OSHA world that can be confusing and are often misused. These are: Certified, Qualified, Competent, Authorized, and Compliant.

I am going to start with Certified. This is the one that is most often misunderstood and misused.

The simple fact is that OSHA does not certify anything. That is correct, nothing, nada, zilch, etc. If you search for 'Does OSHA certify anything?', one of the first hits will be from the OSHA website, clearly stating that it does not. In fact, OSHA does not even have the legal authority to certify anything.

This raises the question: Where does the confusion come from? It comes from the standards. Certified is used in the standards in several places. What is missed by many people is the context in which it is used. When the standards state that someone or something must be certified, it is the employer that does the certification, not OSHA.

The standards may provide some criteria for what is required for the certification, and at other times, it is left to the employer to decide what is needed. As always with OSHA, the certification must be documented and state the criteria used to grant the certification. As we say in the aviation industry, ‘If it is not documented, it never happened.’ This is also OSHA's stance—document everything.

So, if you see the phrase ‘OSHA Certified’ in an advertisement for anything, training, equipment, PPE, etc, or anywhere claiming ‘OSHA Certification’, it is wrong. This comes from two leading causes. Either the author is unaware of the facts pertaining to the subject or is deliberately being deceitful. In either case, buyer beware. You are dealing with an organization that does not understand the standards as well as they should or is not reputable.

Luckily, in my experience, for the most part, it is usually a misunderstanding. Being outright deceitful is rare.

Hopefully, this clears up the confusion. If you have any questions, please leave a comment and I will get back to you as soon as possible.