The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was formed in 1970 as a means to enforce the newly created OSH Act and is an agency of the Federal Department of Labor. According to OSHA, its mission is as follows:
“To assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women; by authorizing enforcement of the standards developed under the Act; by assisting and encouraging the States in their efforts to assure safe and healthful working conditions; by providing for research, information, education, and training in the field of occupational safety and health…”
The OSH Act requires employers to provide a workplace that is free from known dangers that could cause their employees harm, including identifying, correcting, reducing, and/or eliminating health and safety hazards in the workplace. This could include switching to less dangerous chemicals, using ventilation systems, and providing personal protective equipment (PPE) depending on the type of job site employees are working in.
According to OSHA, employers are also required to do the following:
- Prominently display the official OSHA poster that describes rights and responsibilities under the OSH Act.
- Inform workers about hazards through training, labels, alarms, color-coded systems, chemical information sheets and other methods.
- Train workers in a language and vocabulary they can understand.
- Keep accurate records of work-related injuries and illnesses.
- Perform tests in the workplace, such as air sampling, required by some OSHA standards.
- Provide hearing exams or other medical tests required by OSHA standards.
- Post OSHA citations and injury and illness data where workers can see them.
- Notify OSHA within 8 hours of a workplace fatality or within 24 hours of any work-related inpatient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye.
- Not retaliate against workers for using their rights under the law, including their right to report a work-related injury or illness.
OSHA covers most private sector employers and employees in all 50 states and certain jurisdictions under Federal authority, including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Wake Island, Johnston Island, and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands as defined in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
Public sector employees in 27 states, including Illinois, are not typically covered by OSHA but are instead covered by OSHA-approved state plans.
The OSH Act does not cover those that are self-employed, immediate family members of farming employers, or workplace hazards that are regulated by another Federal agency, such as the Department of Energy or Coast Guard.
OSHA Standards
OSHA standards are the rules that employers must use to protect their employees. OSHA has four (4) different groups for these standards: General Industry, Construction, Maritime, and Agriculture.
The standards will vary for each industry, but in general, they are designed to protect workers from a wide range of workplace hazards and include but are not limited to:
- Limiting the number of hazardous chemicals, noise, or substances a worker is exposed to
- Requiring the use of safe workplace practices and equipment
- Monitoring hazards and keeping records of workplace accidents and illnesses
- Provide fall protection
- Prevent trenching cave-ins
- Ensure the safety of workers who enter confined spaces such as manholes or grain bins
- Put guards on machines
- Provide workers with respirators and other needed safety equipment (in almost all cases, free of charge)
When no specific OSHA standard applies to a workplace hazard, employers must also comply with the General Duty Clause of the OSH Act, which requires employers to keep their workplaces free of serious recognized hazards.
Right to Information
OSHA gives rights to employees and their representatives to certain information that employers have regarding their workplace, such as the hazards present and how to protect themselves, including:
- Warning signs including the official OSHA Poster, Job Safety and Health: It’s the Law, in a place where workers will see it
- Color-coding signals
- Training in a language that is understood by employees and given at their normal rate of pay
In industries that are considered high-hazard and have more than 10 employees, OSHA requires employers to keep injury and illness records for serious illnesses or injuries. OSHA defines a serious injury or illness as one that requires medical treatment other than first aid, restricted work or days away from work.
In addition to injury and illness logs, OSHA requires some industries to provide exposure monitoring of hazardous substances such as lead and asbestos and provide employees with access to the results of this testing.
If a worker’s health may have been affected by workplace hazards, an employee has the right to receive testing and access to the results of the testing under OSHA standards.
OSHA Worksite Investigations
OSHA also provides unannounced worksite investigations conducted on-site or via the telephone by highly trained compliance officers. Worksite inspections are conducted based on the following priorities:
- Imminent danger
- A fatality or hospitalizations
- Worker complaints and referrals
- Targeted inspections – particular hazards, high injury rates
- Follow-up inspections
Employees have the right to file a complaint if they feel their workplace has hazards or violations that are not being dealt with properly, or their employer is not following OSHA guidelines. It is important to note: Workers and their representatives have the right to ask for an inspection without OSHA telling their employer who filed the complaint and it is a violation of the OSH Act for an employer to fire, demote, transfer or retaliate in any way against a worker for filing a complaint or using other OSHA rights.
During an inspection, workers have the right to the following:
- Have a representative of employees, such as the safety steward of a labor organization, go along on the inspection
- Talk privately with the inspector
- Take part in meetings with the inspector before and after the inspection
If there is no authorized employee representative, the OSHA investigator must talk confidentially with a reasonable number of employees during the inspection, where workers are encouraged to point out workplace hazards, discuss any injuries or illnesses caused by these hazards, discuss past complaints about the hazards, and inform inspectors or any workplace issues that are not normal.
Following an inspection, OSHA investigators will meet with the employer and employee representatives in either a joint or separate conference to discuss what was found, any violations that occurred, the citations and fines that may be issued, and how to remedy what was discovered. Employers must post a copy of the citations that were issued in an area where employees can view it and both employers and employees have the right to contest a citation within 15 days through the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC).
Whistleblower Protection
OSHA prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who use their rights under the OSH Act. This retaliation includes:
- Firing or laying off
- Blacklisting
- Demotion
- Denying overtime or promotion
- Disciplining
- Denying benefits
- Failing to hire or rehire
- Intimidation
- Making threats
- Reassignment affecting prospects for promotion
- Reducing pay or hours
If you have been retaliated against for using your rights, you must file a complaint with OSHA within 30 calendar days from the date the retaliatory decision has been both made and communicated to you (the employee). This timeframe, however, may have exceptions in different industries such as airlines, commercial motor carriers, the nuclear industry, and railroads.
This is only a small sampling of the rules, regulations, and issues that OSHA covers.
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