The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, better known as OSHA, is a governmental regulatory body that maintains standards for the safety measures that employers provide to their workers. Through OSHA a California worker has rights and a mechanism for pursuing help when they suffer a preventable workplace injury or accident.
For example, when a worker is hired into a particular job they have the right to be trained. While often training is considered the imparting of knowledge upon a person so that they can perform a task, under OSHA a worker’s training must also impart safety education so that the worker can do their tasks without causing themselves or others injury.
Also, employers must allow workers to bring to their attention the workers’ concerns about possible OSHA violations on their premises. To this end, workers must be made aware of their OSHA rights and must be allowed to inquire of their employers on OSHA standards and requirements. When a possible OSHA violation exists on a worksite then the affected worker or workers may be allowed to be involved in OSHA’s investigation.
After an OSHA investigation a worker’s rights continue. Workers are entitled to know if the OSHA investigation into safety or health hazards found proof violations or not. Workers who were involved in the OSHA process are also protected from discriminatory acts of retaliation by their employers and to rightfully maintain their jobs.
This list is not comprehensive and workers who want to know more about OSHA should consult with attorneys who work in the worker injury and workers’ compensation fields. This post offers no legal advice but instead basic information about a detailed and complex organization.