Providing a Safe Workplace Under OSHA
Under the federal law in the United States, an employee is entitled to a safe work environment. Your employer is responsible to provide a work area that is free of all known safety and health hazards. If you as an employee have concerns about the safety of your workplace, you should raise up the concerns with the business owner either directly or through his representatives like the human resource manager. Informing them that you have some concerns about the safety of the workplace where you carry out your duties in the organization without fear of the company or its representatives taking any action that could be deemed as retaliation.
As an employee you have a right to: be provided with safety gear that includes harness, gloves and a lifeline in case there is a risk of falling, be protected from chemicals that are toxic, request an OSHA inspection and speak to the person carrying out the inspection, report an illness or injury and get copies of medical records concerning the injury, get access to copies of test results that were done to find hazards in the workplace, see copies of the workplace injury and illness.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should an employee do if there is a dangerous situation at work?
If you that your working conditions are unhealthy or unsafe then you may go ahead and file a complaint with OSHA. The first thing to do would be to bring the concern to the business owners attention. if they do not take any action then you can file a complaint with OSHA. If the concern may result in serious physical harm or death you have a right to refuse to work in an environment where you fell you would be exposed to a hazard.
What Happens If I am injured on the job?
Employers are required to inform OSHA of a workplace fatality within eight hours. They must inform OSHA within 24 hours of any hospitalization of employees, loss of an eye or an amputation due to work-related concerns.
What happens after I file a complaint?
Every complaint is evaluated by OSHA to determine whether the complaint should be handled as an off-site investigation or an onsite inspection. When your complaint is written signed by workers r their representative and submitted to an OSHA office will usually get an in site OSHA inspection.
Bottom Line
For the last decade, UELG (united employees law group) has focused on employment law. They have handled more than fifteen hundred employment law cases and have been awarded more than two hundred and fifty million dollars for employee cases. They can be able to advise you on how to file a complaint with OSHA and be able to advise in case you suffer an injury at your place of work, what steps you can take and how to go about it.