Skip to main content
    QHSEtech
    Updated
    All glossary terms
    Content date: · No individual check logged· AI use

    Stop Work AuthoritySWA

    Also known as: Stop work policy

    Definition

    An employer-granted right and responsibility for anyone on a site, contractors included, to stop a task they believe is unsafe, with no prior permission needed and no reprisal.

    Editorial definition: The QHSE Standard, updated 3 October 2026 · https://qhsetech.com/glossary/stop-work-authority

    Scope: It is an employer's programme and not the legal right to refuse unsafe work, which is narrower and differs by jurisdiction. Some regimes, such as US offshore operations, require it.

    Example for your evaluation: Record each stop, who decided the work could restart and on what grounds, and keep any report of reprisal apart from the stop itself.

    Sources checked: . Examples are editorial illustrations.

    What the sources say about stopping work and refusing work

    Stop work authority has no single legal definition, so the working description comes from safety programmes. OSHA's guidance on safety and health programmes tells employers to empower all workers to start or request a temporary suspension or shutdown of any activity they believe is unsafe, and to state that nobody will face retaliation for raising a concern. It adds that all workers at a worksite should take part, including contractors, subcontractors and temporary agency staff. That gives the three parts of the definition: anyone can stop, the stop does not wait for approval, and there is no reprisal. The guidance is not a rule and never says no prior permission, so that element reflects how programmes use the term.

    Where the law requires it, the wording is specific. The US offshore rule in 30 CFR 250.1930 asks for procedures that can stop work immediately when it creates imminent risk or danger, meaning a condition that could cause death, serious physical harm or significant environmental harm. Every person on the facility holds both the responsibility and the power to stop or decline a task in that case, free from reprisal, and anyone told to stop must comply at once. Work resumes when the individual on the facility who holds ultimate work authority finds the danger gone or never present, and the decision must be put in writing as soon as practicable. The sources opened here do not say where the practice began, so no origin is claimed.

    The legal right to refuse unsafe work is a separate instrument. OSHA's 29 CFR 1977.12 says that, as a general matter, the Act gives employees no right to walk off the job over potentially unsafe conditions. It protects one narrow case: a good-faith refusal, with no reasonable alternative, where a reasonable person would see a genuine risk of death or serious injury, there is no time for regular enforcement channels and, where possible, the employee first asked the employer to fix it. ILO Convention 155 protects a worker who withdraws from a situation reasonably believed to present an imminent and serious danger, and has the worker tell the supervisor at once. Stop work authority sits below those thresholds, because it asks for no showing of imminent danger. This is general information, not legal advice, and the law where you work governs.

    Sources opened :

    What a stop work record holds in software

    • Who stopped the work, their employer and role, when, where and which task, with the reason in their words.
    • How the task was left: whether work stopped at once, what was made safe, and which permit, job plan or lift was affected.
    • Who was told, at what time, and who took charge.
    • The assessment result, with hazard found, no hazard found and unresolved as equal outcomes, so none reads as the stopper's mistake.
    • The restart decision: who made it, on what authority and grounds, when, in writing, with any changed control.
    • Corrective actions with an owner and due date, linked to the permit or incident.
    • A separate, access-restricted route to report pressure or reprisal after a stop.

    Stop work authority, the right to refuse and a pause check

    Stop work authority is granted by the employer, covers any task a person believes unsafe and asks for no proof afterwards. The right to refuse is a legal protection with a narrow threshold, judged after the event. A pause check before a task is a planning step and grants no authority. Mixing them up leaves a worker who thinks the law protects every stop, or a supervisor who thinks a stop needs approval. A written policy should say which is which.

    A hypothetical example: fourteen stops in a quarter

    This case is invented to illustrate the record and describes no real site. A contractor pipefitter, two days into a shutdown, finds that a valve she was told to open carries no isolation tag, and calls a stop. The supervisor and area safety representative attend, the line is isolated and tagged, and the person with authority over the job records the decision to resume, with the time and the added control.

    Over the quarter the site logs 14 stops. Nine found a hazard and changed a control, 3 found no hazard and 2 stayed open pending a supplier answer, which is 9 plus 3 plus 2, or 14. Five of the 14, about 36 per cent, found nothing or had no answer yet, and the reviewer closes the 3 no-hazard stops as normal outcomes with thanks, not as errors. Four were raised by contractor staff. Counts are reviewed by shift and contractor, and sampled records are read to check each restart names a decision-maker.

    Common misunderstandings about stop work authority

    • It is not the legal right to refuse. OSHA's rule gives no general right to walk off the job, and refusal protection has narrow conditions.
    • It is not a permanent veto. A stop pauses work until someone with authority decides it can resume, and the offshore rule wants that decision in writing.
    • A stop that finds no hazard is not a failure. A record that counts it against the person teaches others not to stop.
    • It is not limited to employees. OSHA's guidance names contractors, subcontractors and temporary agency workers.
    • A poster is not a programme. OSHA pairs the authority with a reporting process, prompt follow-up and routine feedback to workers.

    How stop work authority relates to other glossary terms

    A stop sits between planning, permission to work and reporting, so its neighbours are the terms for each.

    • Just culture: how an organisation responds after a stop, including one that finds nothing.
    • Permit to work: stopped permitted work needs a defined suspend and resume route.
    • Near miss: the report of an unplanned event without harm, where a stop interrupts work earlier.
    • JSA: the offshore rule asks for a stop work statement in every job safety analysis.

    Records and evidence that usually exist for stop work authority

    • The written policy and its no-reprisal statement.
    • Training and review records; the offshore rule asks for them to be documented and kept for two years.
    • Job analysis templates with the stop work statement.
    • Stop records with the restart decision, its author and its time.
    • Feedback to workers on action taken.
    • Counts by site, shift and contractor, and any reports of pressure.

    What a software tool needs to capture for stop work authority

    • A quick stop form that a contractor or visitor can submit.
    • A restart step that records who decided, on what grounds and when, and cannot be skipped.
    • A link to the permit or task, so an open stop shows against the work it halted.
    • Neutral outcome values, with no label that blames the person.
    • A restricted route for reporting pressure after a stop.
    • Reports by contractor, shift and hazard, not by named individual.

    Catalog profiles documenting near-miss and event reporting

    No researched profile record names a stop work capability, so this list uses the near-miss reporting rule. Ask a supplier whether a stop has its own record and what blocks a restart.

    Same rule for every product: tagged “Incident Management”, “Incident Reporting” or “Near Miss Reporting”, with a sourced near-miss reporting capability in its record, or one the vendor stated to us, labelled as vendor-stated. Documented and conditional capabilities qualify; check the linked scope before treating a module as included.

    Tekmon pays for a sponsored placement (above); its place in this list follows the same rule as every entry. How lists are ordered

    All 21 matching profiles are shown. Documentation review, not hands-on testing or a claim of compliance.

    Related software

    Frequently asked questions

    Is stop work authority a legal right in the US?

    Not in general. OSHA's 1977.12 says the Act gives no general right to walk off the job, though 30 CFR 250.1930 requires it offshore. Check the rule for your sector.

    Who decides when stopped work can restart?

    The employer's procedure should name that person. The offshore rule gives it to the individual on the facility with ultimate work authority, recorded in writing.

    Can a contractor stop work on a host site?

    OSHA's guidance says all workers at a worksite should take part, including contractor staff, and the offshore rule says all personnel. A contract should say so too.

    More safety terms