What is stop work authority?
Stop work authority is a company rule that gives anyone on a job the right to pause the work when they believe it is about to hurt someone.
Also called SWA, stop work
What it means.
It is company policy, not an OSHA standard. What federal law protects is narrower. OSHA tells workers they have the right to refuse to work in a situation in which they would be exposed to a hazard, and the regulation behind that, 29 CFR 1977.12, is careful about the conditions.
A refusal is protected when the employee, with no reasonable alternative, refuses in good faith to expose themselves to the dangerous condition; a reasonable person would agree there is a real danger of death or serious injury; there is not enough time to remove the danger through the regular enforcement channels; and, where possible, the employee has asked the employer to correct it. Company stop work programs are deliberately broader than that.
there is no right afforded by the Act which would entitle employees to walk off the job because of potential unsafe conditions at the workplace.
Where it shows up on a job.
A rigger sees a cut in a sling as the load is about to go up, calls stop, and the lift waits until the sling is replaced. The permit or JHA records the stop and the fix, and nobody is penalized for calling it.
Where this comes from.
Each source was read on 22 October 2026. Guidance is advice; a regulation is the rule.
- 29 CFR 1977.12Code of Federal Regulations, Title 29. Regulation. When a refusal to work is protected.
- Workers' rightsOccupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA guidance, advisory. The right to refuse to work in a hazardous situation.
- Workers' Right to Refuse Dangerous WorkOccupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA guidance, advisory. OSHA's plain-language explanation.
A plain-language definition, not legal advice. For a decision on your site, read the standard that applies to it.
Related terms
- permit to work
A permit to work is a written authorization, signed by someone allowed to sign it, for a specific hazardous job to go ahead under named controls for a set period.
- job hazard analysis
A job hazard analysis is breaking a job into steps, identifying what could go wrong at each step, and deciding how to control it before the work starts.
- toolbox talk
A toolbox talk is a short safety conversation with a crew, usually at the start of a shift or before a task, about the hazards of the work in front of them.
- near miss
A near miss is an event that could have hurt someone and did not, often by luck; OSHA also calls it a close call.
In PanoraConfigurable safety forms: Your JHAs, inspections, near misses and permits as phone forms, sealed and numbered when they are filed.