Rules & Regulations of the State of Tennessee
Title 0800 - Labor and Workforce Development
Subtitle 0800-01 - Occupational Safety and Health
Chapter 0800-01-04 - Occupational Safety and Health Inspections, Citations, and Proposed Penalties
Section 0800-01-04-.09 - REPRESENTATIVES OF EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES

(1) Compliance officers shall be in charge of inspections and questioning of persons. A representative of the employer and a representative authorized by his employees shall be given an opportunity to accompany the compliance officer during the physical inspection of any workplace for the purpose of aiding such inspection. A compliance officer may permit additional employer representatives and additional representatives authorized by employees to accompany him where he determines that such additional representatives will further aid the inspection. A different employer and employee representative may accompany the compliance officer during each different phase of an inspection if this will not interfere with the conduct of the inspection.

(2) Compliance officers shall have authority to resolve all disputes as to whom is the representative authorized by the employer and employees for the purpose of this rule. If there is no authorized representative of employees, or if the compliance officer is unable to determine with reasonable certainty who is such representative, he shall consult with a reasonable number of employees concerning matters of safety and health in the workplace.

(3) The representative(s) authorized by employees shall be an employee(s) of the employer. However, if in the judgment of the compliance officer, good cause has been shown why accompaniment by a third party who is not an employee of the employer (such as an industrial hygienist or a safety engineer) is reasonably necessary to the conduct of an effective and thorough physical inspection of the workplace such third party may accompany the compliance officer during the inspection.

(4) Compliance officers are authorized to deny the right of accompaniment under this rule to any person whose conduct interferes with a fair and orderly inspection. The right of accompaniment in areas containing trade secrets shall be subject to the provisions of Rule 0800-01-04-.10. With regard to information classified by an agency of the United States Government in the interest of national security, only persons authorized to have access to such information may accompany a compliance officer in areas containing such information.