If you are unfamiliar with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OHSA) you may want to get familiar with it. This is the group that oversees the health and safety of workplaces throughout the country. If you’re experiencing working conditions at your place of work that you believe are in violation of the standards set by OSHA or that you believe put you at a high risk of being injured and having to file a Connecticut worker’s compensation claim, you may wish to file a complaint with the government agency.
It is important to know that your health and safety at your job is not your sole responsibility and it is overseen by OSHA which can hold your employer accountable if they are not providing a safe work environment for you or your co-workers. When you believe that your conditions are unsafe you may wish to file a complaint, but even if you do not decide to file a complaint and then get injured on the job that safety concern is still the responsibility of your employer.
Another important thing to note if you do decide you want to go through with filing a complaint with OSHA is that under law your employer cannot retaliate in any way if you file a complaint. Filing a complaint with OSHA should not affect your standing at your workplace in any way.
If you decide it is necessary to file a complaint with OSHA the agency recommends the following steps and things to think about;
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If you have a health and safety concern and feel comfortable speaking with your employer about your concerns, start there. If your employer is receptive and works with you and your co-workers to address your concerns you may not need to go any further than that.
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Whether you feel comfortable speaking with your employer about the concerns you have or not you may then file a confidential complaint about unsafe or unhealthy working conditions with OSHA. Filing a complaint will signal to the agency that an inspection of your workplace is necessary and that process will begin.
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As stated above, it is illegal for an employer to retaliate on an employee for filing a complaint with OSHA. Therefore your employer cannot fire you, demote you, transfer you or retaliate in any other way. If this does occur you should file a whistleblower complaint within 30-days of the alleged retaliation and begin the process of holding your employer accountable.
While filing a complaint with OSHA may not be your first choice of action, for some employees it is the best course to make sure the working conditions at a workplace are safe and healthy and to insure that the dangers of injury or illness are minimized. Whatever the outcome of a complaint and subsequent OSHA inspection is, you may still find yourself in need of filing a Connecticut workers’ compensation claim if you’ve been injured on the job, this is regardless of what action was taken or not taken as a result of a potential OSHA inspection.
When you file a claim for workers’ compensation you may find it necessary to speak with an experienced attorney to help you through the claims process. Contact our office and one of our board certified attorneys will speak with you and work with you to protect your long-term interests.
