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No one wants to deal with workplace safety issues. Telling your boss there’s a problem is rarely a pleasant experience. In a perfect world, safety guidelines in the workplace would be properly enforced and labor laws wouldn’t even have to come into it.
Unfortunately, it often falls to the individual worker to protect themselves from workplace safety issues. Let’s go over the ways you can protect yourself at work.
If you’re not in imminent danger but are instead dealing with workplace safety issues that could become serious problems over time, try not to assume the worst. It’s possible that your employer doesn’t even know about the safety hazard, and they’ll be happy to fix it after you report it. After all, your boss doesn’t want a personal injury attorney coming after them any more than you want to be injured.
When you request that your employer look into a safety issue, make sure you document it somehow. This is as easy as jotting down a few notes about the conversation and including the date, time and names of people involved.
Of course, not all bosses are so helpful. If you’re afraid to make a request, you can always contact the Occupational Safety and Health Administration or another state agency that protects workers. You should also contact OSHA if your employer does nothing to fix the situation after you made a request or if you’re facing retaliation for complaining.
If the danger is immediate because of a hazard in your workplace, you can refuse to work until the issue is resolved. Your employer also can’t take action against you if you refuse to work due to a health and safety issue, and if they do, you should contact OSHA.
You can also call OSHA’s emergency telephone line if you believe your work is endangering your health or life and an OSHA investigation would take too long to correct the problem.
Don’t work in an unsafe situation. You’re entitled to feel safe at work and your employer should accommodate that. Ger more information on this topic here.
