Know Your Rights to a Safe and Healthy Workplace

Know Your Rights! Every worker has the right to a safe workplace under the OSH Act. 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.

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Workplace Rights

You have the right under U.S. health and safety laws to:

  • A workplace that is safe and free of recognized hazards
  • Talk to your supervisor about unsafe or unhealthy working conditions
  • File a complaint with OSHA about unsafe or unhealthy conditions
  • Refuse to do a job task that you reasonably think might put you in immediate danger
  • Know about the hazards in your workplace
  • Not to be discriminated against (fired, given a worse job, etc.) for reporting safety hazards (“Whistleblower Protection”)
  • Access to records of medical tests and tests that monitor your work environment for hazardous materials
  • Access to information about injuries and illnesses that happen in your workplace

 

OSHA – Workers’ Rights Booklet

(OSHA 3021 – 2016) (English: PDF | Spanish: PDF)

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 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 retaliated against for acting as a “whistleblower” under the additional 21 federal statutes for which OSHA has jurisdiction.

Read more about your safety and health rights at work: