By Jeff Alfonso
This article is posted with permission from LATINO NEWSPAPER. It was originally published on July 13, 2017 in issue #389
Although there are other valuable resources to find help such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, this article will consider your rights under OSHA.
Bureau of Labor Statistics Census of Fatal Injuries Summary, 2015
- 903fatal work injuries among Hispanic or Latinos in 2015.
- Fatal injuries among Latinos rose 12% in 2015.
- The number of fatally-injured workers born in Mexico rose 22% in 2015
OSHA stands for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor. OSHA’s responsibility is to improve worker safety and health protection. All Hispanic workers are included under these protections.
What Rights Do You Have Under OSHA?
You have the right to:
- A safe and healthful workplace
- Know about hazardous chemicals
- Labels and Safety Data Sheets should be in all the languages spoken by employees.
- Report injury to employer
- Complain or request hazard correction from employer
- Training
- Workers have a right to get training from employers on a variety of health and safety hazards and standards that employers must follow.
- Training must be in a language and vocabulary workers can understand.
- Hazard exposure and medical records
- File a complaint with OSHA
- If you are concerned for your life and safety and your employer does not respond to your concerns, you may file a confidential complaint with OSHA.
- OSHA.gov
- 1(800) 321-OSHA (6742)
- Participate in an OSHA inspection
- Be free from retaliation for exercising safety and health rights
- If you feel your employer has retaliated against you for complaining to OSHA, you have 30 days to inform OSHA.
- If you are concerned for your life and safety and your employer does not respond to your concerns, you may file a confidential complaint with OSHA.
All workers including Latinos are protected under OSHA. You have the right to receive training in the language you best understand for the safety of yourself and others. Finally, OSHA further protects workers by allowing them to make confidential complaints and by giving hefty fines to a company that retaliates.
