OSHA AND OTHER SAFETY LAWS

Federal and state occupational safety regulations subject employers to an array of requirements governing the safety and health of their employees.

The laws and regulations, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and its state counterpart agencies conduct thousands of investigations of employers’ work operations each year.

Our practice emphasizes a practical approach to occupational safety and health. We view compliance with laws and regulations not as an end in itself, but as a means to assist employers to increase productivity and to reduce the costs of doing business including reducing incidences of employee absenteeism, work restrictions and overtime, as well as reducing workers’ compensation and health and disability insurance premiums and payments.

The Law

Occupational Safety and Health

Under federal law, you are entitled to a safe workplace. Your employer must provide a workplace free of known health and safety hazards. If you have concerns, you have the right to speak up about them without fear of retaliation.

Protected Individuals

Private Sector Workers – OSHA covers most private sector employers and workers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and other U.S. jurisdictions either directly through Federal OSHA or through an OSHA-approved state plan.
State and Local Government Workers – Workers at state and local government agencies are not covered by Federal OSHA, but have OSH Act protections if they work in one of the 22 states and territories that have an OSHA-approved state program. Five additional states and one U.S. territory have OSHA approved plans that cover public sector employees only: Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, New York, and the Virgin Islands. Private sector workers in these five states and the Virgin Islands are covered by Federal OSHA.

Federal Government Workers – OSHA’s protection applies to all federal agencies. Federal agencies must have a safety and health program that meet the same standards as private employers. Although OSHA does not fine federal agencies, it does monitor these agencies and conducts federal workplace inspections in response to workers’ complaints.

Potential Violators

Under the OSHA law, most employers have a responsibility to provide a safe workplace.

What The Law Protects

You also have the right to be trained in a language you understand, work on machines that are safe, be provided safety gear, such as gloves or a harness and lifeline for falls and be protected from toxic chemicals.
You may request an OSHA inspection, speak to the inspector, report an injury or illness, get copies of your medical records, review records of workplace injuries and illnesses, and get copies of test results done to find hazardous conditions in the workplace.
All employers must 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.

OSHA AND OTHER SAFETY LAWS