What do I need to know about ensuring a safe and healthy workplace?
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is committed to helping you ensure safe and healthful working conditions for workers by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education, and assistance.
Who regulates safety and health in my workplace?
Under the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act, worker safety and health is handled either by federal OSHA or State Plans. State Plans are OSHA-approved workplace safety and health programs operated by individual states or U.S. territories. There are 22 OSHA-Approved State Plans covering both private sector and state and local government workers and seven State Plans covering only state and local government workers.
Please select one of the following questions to learn more about workplace safety and health and find out whom to contact if you need more information.
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Workers
You have the right to:
be provided required personal protective equipment or PPE, such as gloves or a harness and lifeline for falls. See OSHA’s Employer Payment Guidelines for what type of equipment is covered.
be protected from toxic chemicals.
You have the right to:
report a work-related injury or illness, and get copies of your medical records.
see copies of the workplace injury and illness log.
review records of work-related injuries and illnesses.
You have the right to request an inspection from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and speak to the inspector.
You have the right to be trained in a language you understand.
You have the right to work on machines that are safe.
A whistleblower is someone who reports workplace conditions that they believe to be unsafe or illegal. As a whistleblower, a worker has the right to be protected from workplace retaliation by their employer for reporting injuries, safety concerns, or other protected activities. An employer can’t retaliate against a whistleblower for reporting injuries, safety concerns, or other protected activities. Retaliation, or “adverse action,” can include, but is not limited to, firing, preventing someone from getting another job, or denying benefits to or making threats against a worker.
Federal child labor law generally prohibits the employment of minors in nonagricultural occupations under the age of 14, restricts the hours and types of work that minors can perform under 16, and prohibits the employment of minors under the age of 18 in any hazardous occupation. Different child labor law standards apply to agricultural employment. Young workers have rights in the workplace, as outlined in OSHA’s videos in English and Spanish.
The U.S. mines 65 different commodities, with nearly 13,000 mines across the country. Mining is a vital, yet dangerous, profession. Federal law affords certain rights to miners, and imposes responsibilities on mine operators, in an effort to improve safety conditions in mines across the United States. Under the Mine Act, miners must be provided with safety training, and have the right to request a health and safety inspections, and to report unsafe working conditions.
Employers
You have the responsibility to provide a safe and healthy workplace.
You must provide a workplace free of known health and safety hazards and comply with certain safety standards, rules, and regulations, which may vary depending on your industry and nature of operations. Your employees have the right to refuse dangerous work, provided certain conditions are met.
You have the responsibility to provide a safe and healthy workplace.
You’re required to keep a record of serious work-related injuries and illnesses if you’re a business with more than 10 employees. (Certain low-risk industries are exempted.) Minor injuries requiring first aid only do not need to be recorded.
Workplace emergencies, whether due to workplace hazards or natural disasters, create a variety of dangers for workers in the impacted area. In such situations, worker safety is paramount. Preparing before an incident is vital to ensuring that you and your workers have the necessary equipment, know where to go, and how to stay safe when an emergency occurs. To help, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) provides resources on a wide variety of emergency preparedness considerations.
OSHA has issued Recommended Practices for Anti-Retaliation Programs to help you create a workplace in which employees feel comfortable voicing their concerns without fear of retaliation. The recommendations are adaptable to most workplaces, and the concepts can be used to create a new program or enhance an existing one.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) offers compliance assistance products and services to help you comply with OSHA requirements and prevent or reduce workplace fatalities, illnesses, and injuries. In particular, OSHA offers no-cost On-Site Consultation services and Compliance Assistance Specialists.
Normally, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) conducts inspections without advance notice. You have the right to require compliance officers to obtain an inspection warrant before entering the worksite, however.
OSHA focuses on the most hazardous workplaces by order of priority. For lower-priority hazards, an OSHA representative may contact you to describe safety and health concerns, following up with details. In such an instance, you must respond in writing within five working days, identifying any problems found and noting corrective actions taken or planned. If your response is adequate and the complainant satisfied, OSHA generally will not conduct an inspection.
Federal child labor law generally prohibits the employment of minors in nonagricultural occupations under the age of 14, restricts the hours and types of work that minors can perform under 16, and prohibits the employment of minors under the age of 18 in any hazardous occupation. Different child labor law standards apply to agricultural employment. Young workers have rights in the workplace, as outlined in OSHA’s videos in English and Spanish.
For workers employed by private companies or state and local government agencies, workers’ compensation—meaning compensation for workers who experience work-related injury or occupational disease—is overseen at the state level, by individual state workers’ compensation boards.
Some of the laws administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, including those related to workplace safety and health, require that you provide notices to your employees and/or post them in the workplace. The Labor Department provides free electronic copies of all required notices or posters, and many are available in multiple languages. You do not have to pay for Labor Department posters.
It is important to note that you may not be covered by all laws administered by the Labor Department and thus may not be required to display some posters. However, you’re likely required to display the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) “Job Safety and Health: It’s the Law” poster.