Published 2026-03-19
If your employer's safety grade is D or F, or if you personally experience unsafe conditions, you have legal protections and multiple options for action under OSHA and state law — from filing a confidential complaint to requesting an inspection.
Your Right to a Safe Workplace
The Occupational Safety and Health Act (1970) gives every worker the right to a safe and healthful workplace. OSHA enforces standards across most private sector employers and federal agencies. Workers in state-plan states (26 states + DC) are covered by their state OSHA programs.
File an OSHA Complaint
You can file a complaint with OSHA if you believe there's a serious hazard or your employer is violating safety standards:
- Online at osha.gov/workers/file-complaint
- Phone: 1-800-321-OSHA (6742)
- In person at your regional OSHA office
OSHA keeps your identity confidential if requested. Retaliation against workers who file complaints is illegal under Section 11(c) of the OSH Act.
Request an Inspection
You can request an OSHA inspection of your workplace. Employers must allow OSHA inspectors on-site. An employee representative can accompany the inspector. You have the right to talk to the inspector privately.
Workers' Compensation
If you're injured at work, workers' compensation provides medical treatment coverage and partial wage replacement. You don't need to prove fault - injuries occurring during work activities are covered. File promptly - there are time limits (typically 30-90 days) to notify your employer.
Anti-Retaliation Protections
It's illegal for employers to fire, demote, or discipline workers for reporting safety concerns or exercising OSHA rights. If you face retaliation, file a complaint with OSHA within 30 days of the adverse action.
Document Everything
Before filing any complaint or taking formal action, document the unsafe conditions thoroughly. Take photographs or videos of hazards (if safe to do so), write down dates and times of incidents or near-misses, note which supervisors you reported concerns to and when, and save any written communications (emails, texts, memos) related to safety issues. This documentation strengthens your OSHA complaint, protects you in retaliation cases, and supports any workers' compensation claims.
Keep your documentation outside the workplace — on personal devices or personal email — so it cannot be accessed or destroyed by the employer. If you witness unsafe conditions happening to coworkers, document those incidents as well. OSHA investigators rely heavily on specific, dated evidence when building cases, and your records can make the difference between a successful complaint and one that is difficult to act on.
Talk to Your Coworkers
You are not alone in your concern. Federal labor law (the National Labor Relations Act) protects workers' right to discuss working conditions with coworkers, whether or not you are in a union. Collective action — multiple workers raising the same safety concern — carries significantly more weight with both employers and OSHA than an individual complaint.
If multiple workers file complaints about the same hazard, OSHA is more likely to prioritize the inspection and the employer is more likely to take corrective action quickly. Additionally, group complaints make retaliation harder — an employer who fires one complaining worker faces a lawsuit, but an employer who fires multiple workers for safety complaints faces a pattern-and-practice case that is extremely difficult to defend.
State-Plan States: Know Your Local Agency
Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia operate their own OSHA-approved workplace safety programs (called state-plan states). If you work in one of these states — including California, Michigan, Oregon, Washington, Virginia, and others — your complaint should be filed with the state agency rather than federal OSHA. State plans must be at least as effective as federal OSHA, and many have stricter standards or additional protections. California's Cal/OSHA, for example, enforces heat illness prevention standards that do not exist at the federal level.
If you are unsure whether your state has its own program, call 1-800-321-OSHA and they will direct you to the appropriate agency. In state-plan states, the anti-retaliation protections are enforced by the state agency, and the complaint process may differ slightly from the federal process described above.
Check Enforcement History
See if your employer has prior OSHA violations in the federal OSHA inspection records. A history of citations suggests systemic safety problems that haven't been corrected.
Know Your Emergency Rights
If you face an imminent danger — a condition or practice that could reasonably be expected to cause death or serious physical harm before OSHA could inspect — you have the right to refuse work. Under the OSHA regulation at 29 CFR 1977.12, you may refuse to perform a task if you have a good-faith, reasonable belief that you face imminent danger and there is insufficient time for OSHA to inspect. You must first ask your employer to correct the hazard and request an inspection from OSHA. If the employer refuses and the danger remains, you can refuse the task.
This right to refuse dangerous work is narrower than many workers believe. You cannot simply walk off the job because conditions are generally poor — the danger must be specific, imminent, and serious. You must remain at the workplace (unless told to leave) and be willing to perform alternative work. Invoking this right should be a last resort after other channels (reporting to a supervisor, contacting safety committee, calling OSHA) have been exhausted or are impractical given the immediacy of the danger.
Long-Term Strategies for Safer Workplaces
Filing individual complaints addresses immediate hazards but does not change an employer's safety culture. Workers who want to create lasting improvement should consider joining or forming a safety committee (required by law in some states), participating in union safety activities if represented, attending OSHA's free outreach training programs, and engaging with management's safety improvement initiatives. Sustained worker involvement in safety is the single most effective predictor of long-term injury rate reduction.
If your employer has no formal safety program, suggest one. OSHA's On-Site Consultation Program provides free, confidential safety and health assessments to small and medium-sized businesses through state-administered programs. These consultations are separate from enforcement — they do not result in citations or penalties — and they have been shown to reduce injury rates by 20-30% at participating establishments. An employer who is genuinely committed to improvement but lacks resources may welcome this free government assistance.
If you are injured at work, document the injury immediately, report it to your supervisor in writing, and seek medical attention. Even if the injury seems minor, creating a written record protects your right to workers' compensation benefits if complications develop later.
Many workers are unaware that OSHA maintains a free and confidential hotline at 1-800-321-OSHA (6742) that operates in English and Spanish. You do not need to give your name to report a hazard. The hotline can also help you determine whether your concern falls under federal OSHA jurisdiction, a state-plan state agency, or another regulatory body such as the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) for mining operations.
Remember that workplace safety is not just about individual incidents — it is about the systems and culture that either prevent or permit those incidents. Use the data on PlainSafetyScore to understand your employer's track record, exercise your rights under OSHA to address hazards, and advocate for the systemic changes that make workplaces safer for everyone. For more context on how injury rates are measured and what they mean, see our guide on understanding OSHA injury rates.
This guide is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Contact a qualified workers' compensation or employment attorney for your specific situation.