How to Read an OSHA Standard Number

An OSHA citation, an audit report, or a letter from your insurer will often point you to something like 29 CFR 1910.147(c)(4)(i). That string is an address. Once you can read it, you can go straight to the exact sentence being quoted and see for yourself what it says, instead of relying on someone else's summary of it.

"29 CFR" tells you which set of books you are in

OSHA's Laws and Regulations page says it in one sentence: "OSHA standards are published in Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and are divided into separate standards for General Industry, Construction, and Maritime." So "29 CFR" is short for Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

The number before the period is the part

OSHA's page titled "Regulations (Standards - 29 CFR)" lists the regulations by part. There are dozens of parts on that list. These are the three most employers run into:

Part 1904: Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses
Part 1910: Occupational Safety and Health Standards (the Laws and Regulations page labels its link to this part "General Industry")
Part 1926: Safety and Health Regulations for Construction

The same list includes, among others, Part 1903 (Inspections, Citations, and Proposed Penalties), Part 1915 (Occupational Safety and Health Standards for Shipyard Employment), Part 1917 (Marine Terminals), Part 1918 (Safety and Health Regulations for Longshoring), and Part 1928 (Occupational Safety and Health Standards for Agriculture).

So in 1910.147, the "1910" tells you the rule sits in the general industry part.

The number after the period is the section, and sections are grouped into subparts

Open Part 1910 and you get a table of contents arranged by lettered subparts, from Subpart A (General) to Subpart Z (Toxic and Hazardous Substances). A subpart holds a run of numbered sections. Subpart J, General Environmental Controls, includes:

1910.141, Sanitation
1910.146, Permit-required confined spaces
1910.147, The control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout)

The subpart letter does not appear in the citation itself. You find it in the table of contents, or in the header at the top of the section's page, which for our example reads Part Number 1910, Subpart "1910 Subpart J", Standard Number 1910.147.

Each set of parentheses takes you one level deeper

Everything after the section number is a paragraph inside that section. Here is 1910.147(c)(4)(i), walked down one level at a time, as printed on osha.gov:

1910.147(c) carries the heading "General".
1910.147(c)(4) carries the heading "Energy control procedure".
1910.147(c)(4)(i) is the sentence itself: "Procedures shall be developed, documented and utilized for the control of potentially hazardous energy when employees are engaged in the activities covered by this section." (1910.147(c)(4)(i))

In this section the levels run in this order: a lowercase letter, then a number, then a lowercase roman numeral. One level further down, capital letters appear. Paragraph (c)(4)(ii) has four items, (A) through (D), and the first reads "A specific statement of the intended use of the procedure" (1910.147(c)(4)(ii)(A)).

Two habits follow from that structure.

Read up the chain. The sentence at (c)(4)(i) has no heading of its own. The headings above it tell you its subject.

Read what comes right after. Paragraph (c)(4)(i) is followed by a note labeled "Exception" stating that the employer "need not document the required procedure for a particular machine or equipment, when all of the following elements exist," and then listing eight elements (Exception following 1910.147(c)(4)(i)). Quote the paragraph without its exception and you have quoted only part of the rule.

Appendices, interpretation letters, and directives are not the same thing as the standard

Appendices. In the Part 1910 table of contents, an appendix is listed right after its section, for example "1910.147 App A - Typical minimal lockout procedures". Whether an appendix is mandatory depends on the appendix, so check each one:

A note at the end of 1910.147 calls its appendix "a non-mandatory guideline to assist employers and employees in complying with the requirements of this section" and adds: "Nothing in the appendix adds to or detracts from any of the requirements of this section."
Other appendices carry the label in their title. The table of contents lists "1910.134 App A - Fit Testing Procedures (Mandatory)" and "1910.151 App A - Appendix A to § 1910.151 -- First aid kits (Non-Mandatory)".

Letters of interpretation. These are OSHA guidance, not regulation. OSHA's Letters of Interpretation page says: "OSHA requirements are set by statute, standards, and regulations. Our interpretation letters explain these requirements and how they apply to particular circumstances, but they cannot create additional employer obligations."

Directives. These are OSHA's own policy documents, not regulation. OSHA's Directives page describes them as "written statements of policy and procedure on a single subject" and says the instructions posted there "are not standards, regulations, or any other type of substantive rule."

How to look up a paragraph yourself

Start at OSHA's Laws and Regulations page. It has a search box under "Search Standards" and links for General Industry, Construction, Maritime, Agriculture, and Recordkeeping. The link labeled "Other" opens the full list of parts.
Pick the part, then find the section under its subpart in the table of contents.
On the section's page, work down one level at a time. In 1910.147 that order is letter, number, roman numeral.
Read the headings above your paragraph and any Exception or Note right after it.
Check whether the section has an appendix, and whether that appendix is labeled mandatory or non-mandatory.
Treat a letter of interpretation or a directive as OSHA's explanation or policy. Go back to the paragraph itself for the requirement.

Source

This article relies on OSHA's Laws and Regulations page, the list of parts at Regulations (Standards - 29 CFR), the Part 1910 table of contents, and the text of 29 CFR 1910.147, which is regulation. The statements about guidance come from OSHA's Letters of Interpretation and Directives pages, which are OSHA web pages and not regulation. The regulation itself always controls. States that run their own OSHA-approved State Plans may have additional or stricter rules.