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Introduction to OSHA

This chapter introduces the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the federal agency created to help ensure safe and healthful working conditions. You will learn why OSHA exists, what rights workers have, what responsibilities employers carry, how inspections and citations work, and how injuries and illnesses are recorded. Understanding this foundation helps every worker recognize their role in a strong safety culture.

Why OSHA Exists

Before OSHA, there was no single national standard protecting workers from job hazards, and thousands died on the job each year. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 changed that by creating OSHA to set and enforce standards and to provide training and assistance. The Act also created NIOSH, a research body that studies workplace hazards and recommends solutions.

The OSH Act was signed in 1970

OSHA began operating in 1971 with the mission of assuring safe and healthful working conditions for workers across the country.

OSHA sets and enforces standards

These standards are legally enforceable requirements that employers must meet to protect workers from recognized hazards.

NIOSH conducts research

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health studies hazards and recommends controls but does not issue or enforce regulations.

Worker Rights

OSHA guarantees workers specific rights so they can participate in keeping their workplace safe. These include the right to information and training about hazards, the right to review injury records, and the right to file a confidential complaint. Workers are also protected from retaliation for exercising these rights.

Right to training and information

Workers must receive training about the hazards they face, in a language and vocabulary they can understand.

Right to file a complaint

Workers may request an OSHA inspection and can do so confidentially without giving their name to the employer.

Protection from retaliation

Section 11(c) of the Act prohibits firing, demotion, or other punishment for raising safety concerns or filing a complaint.

Right to access records

Workers and their representatives may review the log of work-related injuries and illnesses and certain exposure records.

Employer Responsibilities

Employers carry the primary legal duty to protect workers. The General Duty Clause requires them to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious harm, even where no specific standard applies. Employers must also comply with all applicable OSHA standards, provide required PPE, and display the OSHA rights poster.

General Duty Clause

Employers must furnish a workplace free from recognized hazards that could cause death or serious physical harm when no specific standard covers the hazard.

Provide required PPE

Employers must supply and maintain most required personal protective equipment at no cost to workers.

Display the OSHA poster

The 'It's the Law' poster informing workers of their rights must be posted in a conspicuous location.

Train in an understood language

Required safety training must be provided in a manner and language workers can understand.

Inspections and Citations

OSHA enforces standards through workplace inspections, which may be programmed for high-hazard industries or triggered by complaints, referrals, or serious incidents. An inspection typically includes an opening conference, a walkaround, and a closing conference. Violations can result in citations that specify the hazard, the standard violated, and an abatement date by which it must be corrected.

Inspection priorities

OSHA generally prioritizes imminent dangers, fatalities and catastrophes, complaints and referrals, and then programmed inspections.

Abatement date

A citation sets a deadline by which the employer must correct the cited hazard, and the citation must be posted near the violation.

Willful and serious violations

Willful violations reflect intentional disregard for the law and carry the highest penalties, including possible criminal charges.

Recordkeeping and Reporting

Covered employers must record work-related injuries and illnesses so that hazards can be tracked and addressed. The OSHA 300 Log, 300A summary, and 301 incident report are the core forms. Certain severe events must be reported to OSHA directly within strict time limits.

OSHA 300 Log

Employers record recordable work-related injuries and illnesses on the 300 Log and post the 300A annual summary.

Report fatalities within 8 hours

A work-related fatality must be reported to OSHA within 8 hours of the employer learning of it.

Report severe injuries within 24 hours

In-patient hospitalizations, amputations, and losses of an eye must be reported within 24 hours.

Retain records five years

Injury and illness records must generally be kept for five years following the calendar year they cover.

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Last updated: July 2026