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Turn a chat into an LOI request

Turn a chat session into an OSHA Letter of Interpretation (LOI) request. Cairn fills in the background, question, and position with citations from your conversation, then exports a print-ready PDF on company letterhead.

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Example draft Written for this page, in the layout of the exported PDF

Your company letterhead

[Date]

[Addressee name]
Directorate of Enforcement Programs
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20210

Re: Safety incentive program for a year with no injuries

Background

We plan to pay a bonus to each crew that completes a year with no reported injuries. We want the program to promote safe work without discouraging any employee from reporting an injury or illness.

Question

Can a safety incentive program that rewards a year with no injuries violate 29 CFR 1904.35(b)(1)(iv)? If it can, what steps keep such a program within the rule?

Our position

We understand that a rate-based incentive program is permitted when it is not implemented in a manner that discourages reporting. We rely on OSHA’s memoranda of March 12, 2012 and October 11, 2018.

Applicable standards

  • 29 CFR 1904.35(b)(1)(iv)
  • 29 CFR 1904.36

Respectfully submitted,

[Name], [Title]

An example written for this page. The letterhead, date, addressee and signature are placeholders. The question is the first sample question in the live query, and the draft cites two OSHA letters:

  1. 1 Employer Safety Incentive and Disincentive Policies and Practices, March 12, 2012
  2. 2 Clarification of OSHA’s Position on Workplace Safety Incentive Programs and Post-Incident Drug Testing Under 29 C.F.R. §1904.35(b)(1)(iv), October 11, 2018

What does the LOI drafter do?

A structured editor

Each section is its own field, covering background, question, and position. You edit the wording, and Cairn keeps the format OSHA expects.

Citations stay attached

Cairn attaches every citation from your chat to the draft. Toggle each one to include or exclude it.

Print-ready PDF

Cairn creates an accessible US Letter PDF (PDF/UA) on the server and embeds your logo. It also stores a unique fingerprint (hash) of the export in your audit log.

What it replaces

Manual process

Rounds of legal back-and-forth to draft a single LOI request.

With Cairn

A complete draft, generated from the chat where the question came up.

Manual process

Free-text Word documents that lose citations and arrive at OSHA without authority references.

With Cairn

Structured fields with citations attached to the position, exported as a PDF that mirrors OSHA's own letter format.

Manual process

Chasing legal for the latest letterhead template every time.

With Cairn

Org-wide letterhead saved once, applied to every export.

Common questions

How do I request an OSHA Letter of Interpretation?

Submit a written request to the OSHA Directorate responsible for the standard, stating the background, the specific question, and your own position with citations to the relevant 29 CFR provisions. Cairn structures each of these fields for you from a compliance chat and exports a print-ready request on your letterhead.

What is an OSHA Letter of Interpretation (LOI)?

A Letter of Interpretation is OSHA's written explanation of how a standard applies to a specific set of facts. It is the agency's official position on the question you raised and can be cited like the standard itself.

How long does an OSHA interpretation letter take?

OSHA does not publish a fixed turnaround, and complex questions can take several months. A clearly structured request, with the background, question, and position cited, gives reviewers less to work out and reduces follow-up correspondence.

Related on Cairn

Turn your open question into a filed LOI request.

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