Workers' Rights

You have the right to a safe workplace. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act) was passed to prevent workers from being killed or otherwise harmed at work. The law requires employers to provide their employees with working conditions that are free of known dangers. The OSH Act created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which sets and enforces protective workplace safety and health standards. OSHA also provides information, training and assistance to employers and workers. The OSH Act gives workers the right to safe and healthful working conditions. It is the duty of employers to provide workplaces that are free of known dangers that could harm their employees. This law also gives workers important rights to participate in activities to ensure their protection from job hazards. This booklet explains workers' rights to: File a confidential complaint with OSHA to have their workplace inspected; Receive information and training about hazards, methods to prevent harm, and the OSHA standards that apply to their workplace. The training must be done in a language and vocabulary workers can understand; Review records of work-related injuries and illnesses that occur in their workplace; Receive copies of the results from tests and monitoring done to find and measure hazards in the workplace; Get copies of their workplace medical records; Participate in an OSHA inspection and speak in private with the inspector; File a complaint with OSHA if they have been retaliated or discriminated against by their employer as the result of requesting an inspection or using any of their other rights under the OSH Act; File a complaint if punished or discriminated against for acting as a "whistleblower" under the additional 20 federal statutes for which OSHA has jurisdiction. A job must be safe or it cannot be called a good job. OSHA strives to make sure that every worker in the nation goes home unharmed at the end of the workday, the most important right of all.