Generally, all owners, contractors or subcontractors and other persons having charge of, or responsibility for, any work involving a risk or danger to the employees or the public shall use every device, care and precaution that is practicable to use for the protection and safety of life and limb, limited only by the necessity for preserving the efficiency of the structure, machine or other apparatus or device, and without regard to the additional cost of suitable material or safety appliance and devices.
ORS 654.305
Known as the Oregon Safe Employment Act
The act spans §§ 654–654 (138 sections).
Applied in 45 court decisions — leading case Smothers v. Gresham Transfer, Inc. (2001)
Most recently applied in Crandall v. State of Oregon (January 2026)
Amended by 1997 c.249 §199
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Oregon State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Oregon statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.