Are You Afraid of a Serious or Fatal Accident on the Job? The Federal “Stop Work” Regulation
Federal law requires that work sites in Indiana and Illinois be safe. Employees must be able to do their jobs in a safe working environment. However, the temptation to put profits over people all too often results in companies pushing the edge of the envelope on employee safety. See, e.g.,”Why More Workers Are Dying On the Job Today.”
Workers who need their jobs and breadwinners with loved ones depending upon their paychecks may feel pressured to work in dangerous conditions rather than rock the boat and risk termination. Both experienced workers and those new to the job site may understand they are at risk of serious harm (or death) as employers fail to meet their duty of providing a safe working environment.
The Federal Right to Refuse to do Work in Dangerous Work Site
Federal regulations overseen by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) provide workers with various procedures to seek help from legal authorities when faced with dangerous working conditions. Workers can file official complaints with OSHA, for example, reporting hazards they are facing on the job site.
Many risky situations are addressed by workers as they (1) complain to their supervisors as well as (2) file a complaint with OSHA. However, there are times when the danger is so immediate and intense that filing paperwork with the federal agency and reporting the situation to the boss is not enough.
There are times when a job site or working condition in Indiana or Illinois is so clearly dangerous it is putting workers at the immediate risk of serious and permanent harm or even death. When the risk of death or permanent bodily injury faces a worker, what can he or she do?
Under federal law, the worker has the right to refuse to work in these conditions. This is provided as part of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which was passed by Congress to protect workers from dangerous or deadly working conditions.
The right to stop work law is detailed in the Code of Federal Regulations as 29 C.F.R. 1977.12(b)(2):
However, occasions might arise when an employee is confronted with a choice between not performing assigned tasks or subjecting himself to serious injury or death arising from a hazardous condition at the workplace. If the employee, with no reasonable alternative, refuses in good faith to expose himself to the dangerous condition, he would be protected against subsequent discrimination. The condition causing the employee’s apprehension of death or injury must be of such a nature that a reasonable person, under the circumstances then confronting the employee, would conclude that there is a real danger of death or serious injury and that there is insufficient time, due to the urgency of the situation, to eliminate the danger through resort to regular statutory enforcement channels. In addition, in such circumstances, the employee, where possible, must also have sought from his employer, and been unable to obtain, a correction of the dangerous condition.
OSHA Protections for Workers in Imminent Danger of Getting Hurt or Killed
The right to stop work is limited to very dangerous situations. OSHA explains that workers are protected by federal law from continuing to work without being fired or otherwise discriminated against by their employer only if the following apply to their situation:
- Worker has asked for the danger to be removed or the risk to be remedied and nothing has been done;
- Worker believes in “good faith” that there is a real and immediate danger of serious injury or death;
- A reasonable and prudent person in the position of that worker at that time and place would think there is a real and immediate danger of serious injury or death; and
- The danger is so threatening that waiting for the employer to take steps to fix things or getting OSHA involved to inspect the job site is not viable.
According to OSHA, the worker facing such a dire and dangerous job site should:
- Ask his or her employer to correct the hazardous condition or to assign other work;
- Explain to the supervisors that you will not perform the work unless and until the hazard is corrected; and
- Remain at the worksite until ordered to leave by your employer.
OSHA also explains: “If your employer retaliates against you for refusing to perform the dangerous work, contact OSHA immediately. Complaints of retaliation must be made to OSHA within 30 days of the alleged reprisal. To contact OSHA, call 1-800-321-OSHA (6742) and ask to be connected to your closest area office. No form is required to file a discrimination complaint, but you must call OSHA.”
Workers Still Face Dangerous and Deadly Working Conditions
Federal law does provide workers in Indiana and Illinois the federal right to refuse to work when faced with a dangerous or deadly work site.
However, the reality is that workers continue to be hurt and killed in high risk, unhealthy, and unacceptably unsafe job conditions. Workers are still victims of deadly working conditions in Indiana and Illinois despite this regulatory protection.
Why? There are several reasons. First, while the worker who refuses to work is protected from employer retaliation, this does not mean the employer will not violate federal law and fire or otherwise retaliate against the worker.
Profits may be worth the fight of defending against a wrongful termination action down the road, or facing a wrongful death claim. Companies may consider the risk of a worker being permanently hurt or killed on the job as an acceptable risk when considering the bottom line for profits and revenues.
The result? Dangers remain at the work site. Workers may be afraid to exercise their right to refuse to work in a dangerous situation.
Another factor: the right to refuse to work in a dangerous working condition is allowed only for that particular employee. The concerned worker has no power to shut things down, or to protect his fellow workers from the risk of serious bodily injury or death under this federal “stop work” law. If one worker refuses to work, the site is not shut down.
Additionally, while companies are invited to implement workplace safety policies and detailed “stop work” guidelines, there is no federal mandate requiring them to do so. Companies may be encouraged by safety advocates to adopt effective safety policies that include the right of an employee to stop unsafe work at the site for every worker there, but it is not today’s reality. See, e.g., “Stop-Work Authority: Empowering Workers to Halt a Dangerous Situation Can Help Prevent Injuries, Experts Say,” written by Kyle Morrison and published by Safety+Health Magazine on May 22, 2015.
State and Federal Accident Claims for Workers Hurt or Killed on the Job
Tragically, workers in Indiana and Illinois will continue to be seriously injured or killed because of dangerous working conditions which their employers failed to repair or resolve as part of the duty of care and protection.
The fact that there is a right to refuse to work on a job site in a federal regulation may not result in the worker being shielded from harm.
Workers and their loved ones must face life-changing consequences of on-the-job injuries. Under the state laws of Indiana and Illinois, there are personal injury claims as well as wrongful death demands to be made for these victims of corporate greed and employer negligence. Please be careful out there!
