Ways to Report Safety Hazards
The first action to report a safety hazard should be to contact the employer's safety team leader, supervisor, manager, safety committee, etc. While anyone can report unsafe conditions directly to OSHA, it's a good practice to try to correct the hazard and prevent further exposure before involving OSHA.
- Contact: Contact the team leader, supervisor, manager, safety committee, etc.
- Phone: Call the Regional or Local OSHA office or 1-800-321-OSHA.
- Fax or Mail: Obtain the complaint form online or from the local or regional OSHA office.
- In Person: Visit the local OSHA office.
- Online: File complaints using OSHA's Online Form.
How OSHA Responds to Complaints
OSHA evaluates each complaint to decide the best approach—either an off-site investigation or an on-site inspection. Workers who would like an on-site inspection must submit a written request. Workers can also request that their names be kept confidential, and OSHA will not disclose their identities to their employers. For OSHA to conduct an on-site inspection, at least one of the following eight criteria must be met:
- A written, signed complaint by a current employee or employee representative with enough detail to enable OSHA to determine that a violation or danger likely exists that threatens physical harm or that an imminent danger exists.
- There is an allegation that physical harm has occurred due to the hazard and it still exists.
- A report is made about an imminent danger at the workplace.
- The complaint is about a company in an industry covered by one of OSHA's local or national emphasis programs, or a hazard targeted by one of these programs.
- Inadequate response from an employer who has received information on the hazard through a phone/fax investigation.
- A complaint against an employer with a past history of egregious, willful or failure-to-abate OSHA citations within the past three years.
- The complaint is referred from a whistleblower investigator.
- The complaint concerns a facility already scheduled for or currently undergoing an OSHA inspection.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
1-12. What criteria must be met before an on-site OSHA inspection will occur as a result of a complaint?
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