# ORS § 654.003: 654.003 Purpose

> Oregon · Statutes · In force

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_OR_T51_C654_S654.003

## Section

- **Citation:** ORS § 654.003
- **Heading:** 654.003 Purpose
- **Jurisdiction:** Oregon
- **Kind:** Statutes
- **Status:** In force
- **Text as of:** August 14, 2026
- **Source:** Compiled text
- **Location:** OR Code / Title 51 / Chapter 654 / Section 654.003

## Text

The purpose of the Oregon Safe Employment Act is to ensure as far as possible safe and healthful working conditions for every working person in Oregon, to preserve our human resources and to reduce the substantial burden, in terms of lost production, wage loss, medical expenses, disability compensation payments and human suffering, that is created by occupational injury and disease. To accomplish this purpose the Legislative Assembly intends to provide a procedure that will:

(1) Encourage employers and employees to reduce the number of occupational safety and health hazards and to institute new programs and improve existing programs for providing safe and healthful working conditions.

(2) Establish a coordinated program of worker and employer education, health and safety consultative services, demonstration projects and research to assist workers and their employers in preventing occupational injury and disease, whatever the cause.

(3) Authorize the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services and the designees of the director to set reasonable, mandatory, occupational safety and health standards for all employments and places of employment.

(4) Provide an effective program, under the director, to enforce all laws, regulations, rules and standards adopted for the protection of the life, safety and health of employees, and in so doing, predominantly prioritize inspections of places of employment to first focus enforcement activities upon places of employment that the director reasonably believes to be the most unsafe.

(5) Establish appropriate reporting and research procedures that will help achieve the objectives of the Oregon Safe Employment Act, identify occupational hazards and unsafe and unhealthy working conditions, and describe the nature of the occupational safety and health problem.

(6) Assure that Oregon assumes fullest responsibility, in accord with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 651 et seq.), for the development, administration and enforcement of safety and health laws and standards. [1973 c.833 §3; 1987 c.884 §55; 1999 c.1017 §1; 2017 c.238 §1]

Source: Section 654.003 — Purpose , https://www.­oregonlegislature.­gov/bills_laws/ors/ors654.­html (accessed May 26, 2025).

## Nearby sections

- [ORS § 654.001 654.001 Short title](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_OR_T51_C654_S654.001.md)
- [ORS § 654.003 654.003 Purpose](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_OR_T51_C654_S654.003.md)
- [ORS § 654.005 654.005 Definitions](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_OR_T51_C654_S654.005.md)
- [ORS § 654.010 654.010 Employers to furnish safe place of employment](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_OR_T51_C654_S654.010.md)
- [ORS § 654.015 654.015 Unsafe or unhealthy place of employment prohibited](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_OR_T51_C654_S654.015.md)
- [ORS § 654.020 654.020 Interference with safety devices or methods prohibited](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_OR_T51_C654_S654.020.md)
- [ORS § 654.022 654.022 Duty to comply with safety and health orders, decisions and rules](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_OR_T51_C654_S654.022.md)
- [ORS § 654.025 654.025 Jurisdiction and supervision of Workers’ Compensation Board, director and other state agencies over employment and places of employment](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_OR_T51_C654_S654.025.md)
- [ORS § 654.031 654.031 Citation and order to correct unsafe or unhealthy conditions](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_OR_T51_C654_S654.031.md)
- [ORS § 654.035 654.035 Scope of rules and orders](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_OR_T51_C654_S654.035.md)
- [ORS § 654.056 654.056 Variance from safety or health standards](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_OR_T51_C654_S654.056.md)
- [ORS § 654.062 654.062 Notice of violation to employer by worker](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_OR_T51_C654_S654.062.md)
- [ORS § 654.067 654.067 Inspection of places of employment](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_OR_T51_C654_S654.067.md)
- [ORS § 654.071 654.071 Citation for safety or health standard violations](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_OR_T51_C654_S654.071.md)

---

Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_OR_T51_C654_S654.003. Check the current official text before relying on it. Not legal advice.