When several companies share a California worksite, Cal/OSHA can cite more than the company whose workers were at risk. Labor Code section 6400(b) lets the Division cite the exposing, creating, controlling, or correcting employer, and the last three “may be cited regardless of whether their own employees were exposed to the hazard.” The rule applies on construction and nonconstruction sites. An exposing employer has a five-part defense in the regulations.
What are the four citable roles?
Section 6400(b) and the matching regulation, 8 CCR section 336.10, list four categories.
The exposing employer is “The employer whose employees were exposed to the hazard.” The creating employer is “The employer who actually created the hazard.” The controlling employer is the one “responsible, by contract or through actual practice, for safety and health conditions on the worksite,” meaning, in the statute’s words, the employer “who had the authority for ensuring that the hazardous condition is corrected.” The correcting employer is “The employer who had the responsibility for actually correcting the hazard.”
One company can fill more than one role. A general contractor whose own carpenters work near an unguarded floor opening it controls could be both exposing and controlling.
Does this apply outside construction?
Yes. The statute applies on “multiemployer worksites, both construction and nonconstruction.” That reaches warehouses that use staffing agencies, retail centers where a landlord controls common areas, hospitals with contracted services, and manufacturing plants with on-site maintenance contractors.
Staffing arrangements are a common example. A host employer that directs the work and controls the site can be cited as a controlling employer for a hazard that injured a temp worker, even though the staffing agency is the worker’s employer of record.
How does “controlling” get decided?
By contract or by practice. The statute looks at who was responsible “by contract or through actual practice.” A subcontract that puts safety responsibility on the subcontractor helps, but it isn’t decisive if the general contractor ran the site’s daily safety meetings, inspected conditions, and directed fixes.
That cuts both ways. A company that wants to limit controlling-employer exposure should make sure its contracts and its daily conduct tell the same story. A contract assigning safety to a vendor is undermined by a site manager who routinely orders that vendor’s crews around hazards.
What defenses does an exposing employer have?
Five, and all five must be met. Under 8 CCR section 336.11, before citing an exposing employer, the Division “shall first determine whether available information indicates that the employer meets each of the defenses listed below.” If “all five defenses have been met, the citation shall not be issued.”
The defenses are that the employer didn’t create the hazard, didn’t have the responsibility or authority to have it corrected, and didn’t have the ability to correct or remove it. The employer must also show that the creating, controlling, or correcting employers “were specifically notified or were aware of the hazards.” And the employer must have taken “appropriate feasible steps to protect his/her employees from the hazard,” including instructing them to recognize it. The regulation adds that where an extreme hazard is involved, those steps include “removing the employer’s employees from the job, if there is no other way to protect them from the hazard.”
The notice element is where these defenses are often won or lost. A subcontractor foreman who reported a missing guardrail to the general contractor in writing has evidence. One who mentioned it in passing usually doesn’t.
Multi-employer citation rules at a glance
| Role | Who it is | Own employees must be exposed? |
|---|---|---|
| Exposing | Employer whose workers faced the hazard | Yes |
| Creating | Employer that created the hazard | No |
| Controlling | Employer responsible for site safety by contract or practice | No |
| Correcting | Employer responsible for fixing the hazard | No |
After a multi-employer citation
- Preserve the subcontracts, site safety plans, meeting minutes, inspection logs, photographs, and any written hazard reports to other employers on the site.
- Calendar the appeal deadline on the citation, and check whether any contract requires notice to other contractors or carries indemnity or insurance obligations.
- Identify the supervisors who controlled the area and the employees who saw the hazard, and make sure no one who reported it is treated differently.
- Pull the documents showing which employer created the hazard and who had authority to fix it.
- Talk to a lawyer before giving a statement to Cal/OSHA or tendering to another contractor’s insurer.
The firm’s page on workplace safety defense for California employers explains how it handles Cal/OSHA and related employment claims. A related post covers Cal/OSHA’s indoor heat illness rule.
Multi-employer worksite questions from employers
Can a property owner be cited as a controlling employer?
Only if it’s an employer with responsibility for site safety by contract or in practice. An owner that hires a general contractor and stays out of daily operations is in a different position from one whose facilities staff run the site. The facts about who actually controlled conditions decide it.
Does an indemnity clause stop the citation?
No. Indemnity shifts costs between companies by contract. It doesn’t change who Cal/OSHA can cite under section 6400. It may matter later when allocating penalties, defense costs, or civil liability.
Does a citation affect a civil lawsuit?
It can. A Cal/OSHA finding is often cited in personal injury and wrongful death cases against non-employer companies on the site. Appealing a citation can matter beyond the penalty amount.
Should we warn other employers about hazards we see?
Yes, in writing. Notice to the creating, controlling, or correcting employer is one of the five defenses for an exposing employer. A dated email or written hazard report is far better than a conversation.
If your company has received a multi-employer citation
If your company has been cited for a hazard on a shared worksite, or is facing a claim tied to another contractor’s conditions, the contracts and the site records usually decide which role fits. Rosenberger + Kawabata represents employers defending employment lawsuits and claims through its business litigation practice, including claims involving workplace safety on shared worksites. Contact Rosenberger + Kawabata online for a confidential consultation, or call (310) 894-6921.
Sources
The statute is Labor Code section 6400. The regulations are 8 CCR section 336.10 and 8 CCR section 336.11.
This post is general information about California and federal employment law as of November 7, 2026. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Employment statutes, regulations, and court decisions change often, and the outcome of any claim depends on its facts. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.