Notice

Competent person under OSHA

Notice
Stencil print of a supervisor pointing at a scaffold while a crew waits
The person who can both see the hazard and stop the work.

Published 2026-09-04 · 8 min read · sources checked 2026-09-04

Two sentences in the definitions section of part 1926 decide who is allowed to sign the most important inspections on your site. Most contractors read the first half and stop.

The definition, word for word

1926.32(f): “Competent person means one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them.”

Beside it sits a different term that gets confused with it. 1926.32(d): “Authorized person means a person approved or assigned by the employer to perform a specific type of duty or duties or to be at a specific location or locations at the jobsite.” Assignment is not competence, and the standard keeps the two words apart deliberately.

The clause everyone forgets

“and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them”. Not or. A foreman who can spot a failing trench wall but has to phone the office for permission to pull the crew out does not meet the definition, however many courses he has been on.

That has a practical consequence for how you staff a site. Competence is knowledge plus delegated authority, and the authority half is free — it costs a sentence in the site-specific safety plan and a conversation with the person you are naming.

Caution

There is no OSHA competent-person certificate and no federal register of them. A training provider can teach the subject matter; only the employer can grant the authority. A card by itself never satisfies 1926.32(f).

Where the standards demand one

The term appears throughout part 1926, and each appearance is hazard-specific. One person can hold several designations, but each has to be earned on its own subject.

SubjectThe dutySection
GeneralFrequent and regular inspections of the job site, materials and equipment1926.20(b)(2)
ExcavationDaily inspections before the start of work and as needed through the shift1926.651(k)
ExcavationGround examination for the under-5-foot exception1926.652(a)(1)(ii)
ScaffoldsInspection before each work shift and after anything that could affect integrity1926.451(f)(3)
Fall protectionInspection of PFAS components after impact loading, before reuse1926.502(d)(19)
Confined spaceRe-evaluation of a non-permit space when use or configuration changes1926.1203(b)

Sections read from 29 CFR 1926 on 2026-09-04.

Excavation and scaffolding are the two where the designation is checked hardest, because both carry a named inspection on a named interval that somebody has to sign.

How to document the designation

Nothing in the standard prescribes a form, which is why most designations are undocumented and worthless in an inspection. Four lines cover it:

  1. Name and subject. “J. Alvarez — excavation competent person, 29 CFR 1926 Subpart P.”
  2. Basis. The training, the years, the specific experience. This is the “capable of identifying” half.
  3. Authority, granted explicitly. A sentence that says this person may stop work, order abatement and commit the resources to do it without further approval.
  4. Signature of the person granting it, with a date, and the designee’s acknowledgement.

That block belongs in the site-specific safety plan, and the subjects each person holds belong as rows on the training matrix. When the named person leaves the site, the designation leaves with them — name the cover before you need it.

Designate
Stencil print of a scaffold frame with a blank tag wired to it
Knowledge plus authority, written down and signed — the whole of the requirement.

Sources, with the date each was read

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