Test Your OSHA Vocabulary

According to construction industry regulation 1926.606, under Subpart O: Motor Vehicles, Mechanized Equipment and Marine Operations, an apron is "[t]he area along the waterfront edge of the pier or wharf."

Below you will find 10 common terms and their everyday definitions, and in a separate column, their very different OSHA definitions. Can you match the letter of the common term with the number of its OSHA definition?

The OSHA definitions and the standards to which they relate are taken from MANCOMM's OSHA Dictionary, which contains all the terms and definitions from the 29 CFR OSHA parts 1903, 1904, 1910 and 1926 (Inspections, Recordkeeping, General Industry and Construction).

If you get at least seven right, consider yourself exceptionally well-versed in OSHA matters and give yourself a pat on the back if you can cite the standards to which the OSHA definitions apply.

Common Terms and Definitions

1. Barrel: A large cylindrical container, usually made of wooden staves bound together with hoops, with a flat top and bottom.
2. Bite: To cut, grip, or tear with the teeth.
3. Check: A written order to a bank to pay the specified amount.
4. Ground: Soil or land.
5. Hog: A domesticated pig.
6. Husk: The envelope of leaves around an ear of corn.
7. Jog: To run at a steady slow trot.
8. Package: A wrapped or boxed object.
9. Reach: To touch or grasp by stretching out or extending.
10. Telltale: One who informs on another; a tattler.

Now, match those up with the OSHA definition for the same term:

1. A unit of lumber (Standard 1910.265[b][28]).
2. A machine for cutting or grinding slabs and other coarse residue from the mill (Standard 1910.265[b][18]).
3. A device used to serve as a warning for overhead objects (Standard 1910.265[b][43]).
4. The nip point between any two in-running rolls (Standard 1910.211[c][1]).
5. A conducting connection, whether intentional or accidental, between an electrical circuit or equipment and the earth, or to some conducting body that serves in place of the earth (Standard 1910.269[x], .399; 1926.449).
6. An intermittent motion imparted to the slide by momentary operation of the drive motor, after the clutch is engaged with the flywheel at rest (Standard 1910.211[d][40]).
7. The effective length of an alloy steel chain sling measured from the top-bearing surface of the upper terminal component to the bottom-bearing surface of the lower terminal component (Standard 1910.184[b]).
8. A head saw framework on a circular mill (Standard 1910.265[b][19]).
9. A volume of 42 U.S. gallons (Standard 1910.106[a][33]).
10. A lengthwise separation of wood, most of which occurs across the rings of annual growth (Standard 1910.21[c][17]).

Answers: A) 9; B) 4; C) 10; D) 5; E) 2; F) 8; G) 6; H)1; I) 7; J) 3.

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