1. A. The Safety Specialist shall be in charge of inspections and questioning of persons. A representative of the employer and a representative authorized by employees shall be afforded an opportunity to accompany a Safety Specialist during any inspection provided for under this subarticle for the purpose of aiding such inspections. In places of employment where groups of employees are represented by different representatives, a different employee representative for different phases of the inspection is acceptable to the extent it does not interfere with the inspection. In the interest of affording all employees an opportunity to be represented, more than one representative may accompany the Safety Specialist during any phase of the inspection, if the Safety Specialist so directs.
2. B. The Safety Specialist is authorized to deny the right of accompaniment under this regulation to any person whose conduct interferes with a fair and orderly investigation or as required with respect to security matters or trade secrets. The provisions of R.71-505 and 71-506 shall be implemented so as to avoid any undue and unnecessary disruption of the normal operations of the employer’s plant.
3. C. The representative(s) authorized by employees may be an employee of the employer or a third party. When the representative(s) authorized by employees is not an employee of the employer, they may accompany the Safety Specialist during the inspection if, in the judgment of the Safety Specialist, good cause has been shown why accompaniment by a third party is reasonably necessary to the conduct of an effective and thorough physical inspection of the workplace (including but not limited to because of their relevant knowledge, skills, or experience with hazards or conditions in the workplace or similar workplaces or language or communication skills).
4. D. A representative of the employer and a representative authorized by his employees shall be given an opportunity to accompany the Director, the Director’s assistant, or inspector, within limits of paragraphs A, B, and C above, during the physical inspection of any workplace for the purpose of aiding such inspection. No employee shall suffer any loss of wages or other benefits which would normally accrue to him because of his participation in the walk-around inspection. Such violations of this regulation shall be reported to the Director. Where there is no authorized representative, the Director, the Director’s assistant, or inspector shall consult with a reasonable number of employees concerning matters of health and safety in the workplace.

HISTORY: Amended by SCSR 49-5 Doc. No. 5338, eff May 23, 2025.