Workers throughout Illinois and Indiana face tremendous risks of severe or fatal injuries on the job, especially in industries known to be dangerous, such as construction, warehousing, steel, manufacturing, and agri-business. The hazards are well-known not only to the workers, but to safety agencies; advocates for worker-victims and their loved ones; employers; and company insurance carriers providing workers’ compensation, employer’s liability, or occupational accident coverage.
Read, What Is The Most Dangerous Job in Indiana and Illinois? and New OSHA National Emphasis Program Targets Dangerous Warehousing Industry
Sadly, it is also well-known that while these hazards can result in catastrophic accidents at the workplace, all too often employers fail to protect against them, resulting in workers and others being severely injured in a preventable accident.
See, OSHA’s Top Ten Serious or Willful Violations of Worker Safety Laws and 2021 Top Ten List of OSHA Safety Violations: Known and Unresolved Accident Dangers Facing Workers Today.
The disregard or disrespect of known safely regulations is shocking: as an example, the basic safety regulation to protect against fatal falls has been the most-often cited safety violation in this country for the past twelve (12) years. Read, Fall Protection on the Job Remains Top OSHA Safety Violation for 12th Straight Year.
Obviously, workers must do everything they can to protect themselves and their co-workers from being hurt or killed at work. It is especially important that all workers in Indiana and Illinois know their basic legal rights as a worker designed to keep them safe.
These include the following:
1. All Workers Have a Legal Right to a Safe Workplace provided by their Employer
Pursuant to longstanding federal law, all workers have a legal right to work in “safe and healthful working conditions.” This is the cornerstone of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (“the Act”), which imposes specific legal responsibilities upon employers as well as creating the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”).
Over the years since its passage, many different specific safety regulations have been, and continue to be, enacted to better protect American workers. However, perhaps the most important regulation is found within the original language of the statute in its General Duty Clause. This creates a legal duty for all employers to provide workers with a place of employment that is free from recognized hazards that may cause serious harm or death.
- For more, read What is the Employer’s General Duty Clause?
2. Worker’s Right to Know the OSHA Standards that Apply to Their Specific Workplace
The employer’s responsibilities to keep workers safe on the job should not be a mystery to anyone. Under the Act, workers not only have a right to be protected as they contribute to the employer’s revenues, the workers also have a right to know the specific legal safety standards for their particular worksite.
Workers have a right to know their employer’s duties of safety for everything from Personal Protective Equipment to Lockout-Tagout procedures. This helps the worker understand when safety standards are being ignored or disregarded, putting that worker and others in harm’s way.
3. Every Worker Has Legal Right to Ask for OSHA Inspection of Their Workplace
What if a worker knows of dangerous conditions on the jobsite, but nothing is being done to fix things? The worker has a legal right to ask OSHA to come and do an inspection to determine violations of the law designed to keep workers safe. OSHA inspectors that find the employer has violated safety laws can issue citations and impose monetary penalties. The worker need not worry about retaliation here: these complaints are confidential upon request under Section 8 of the Act. If there is retaliation, there are legal remedies available to the worker under the Act.
4. Legal Right to Talk with OSHA Inspectors and Get Copies of the Inspection Report
When the OSHA inspector arrives at the workplace to determine if there are violations of safety laws, the Act provides for a representative of the workers to go along for the inspection. 29 CFR 1903.8. If there is no authorized representative (like a union rep), then the Act requires the OSHA safety inspector to talk with workers on the site. These are confidential communications. There is no set number of workers that can chat with the inspector; that is up to the safety inspector’s discretion (has to be a “reasonable number”). For more, read Section 8 of the Act.
Workers also have the legal right under the Act to get access to the OSHA inspection, and ask for a review if no citation happens after the inspection takes place.
- For more, read: OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program: Employers Keep Putting Profits Over Worker Safety.
5. Workers Can Know About Any Testing or Monitoring of Toxic Chemicals or Hazardous Materials
The Act gives workers the right to not only watch any monitoring or toxic chemicals or hazardous materials on the site, but to see the records kept about the measurements. Importantly, the Act requires the employer to inform workers if anything went over the established OSHA regulatory maximums. The employer also has a legal duty to tell the workers what will be done to lessen this hazard by lowering the exposure, and the workers have the right to go back and check subsequent monitoring to make sure things are made safe. See, OSHA’s online discussion of Chemical Hazards and Toxic Substances.
For more, read Dangerous Chemicals and Work Injuries: 2nd Highest Safety Violation in 2022 Was Hazard Communication.
6. Workers Have the Right to Review Company Records of Work Injuries and Illnesses
Employers must keep track of all work-related injuries and illnesses. Workers have the right to review that Log and Summary of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses and the records of relevant exposure and medical records, as long as they do so at a reasonable time and in a reasonable manner. 29 CFR 1904.7.
Workers also have the right to have someone do this for them (“authorized representative”). 29 CFR 1910.1020. This may include their legal advocates after a serious accident on the job where the worker-victim and their loved ones are seeking justice from the employer as well as potential third parties involved with the worksite.
For more, read: Workers’ Compensation and Third-Party Claims for On-the-Job Accidents and Who Can Be Held Liable for Construction Worker Accidents?
Know Your Rights as a Worker in Illinois and Indiana Before an Accident Injury
All workers in Illinois and Indiana have a right to be protected while on the job. If an employer or other company with possession, custody, or control of aspects of the jobsite disregards or disrespects safety laws, then accidents can happen with tragic consequences.
Workers have rights. Those listed above are just a few of them. Safety for employees should be the top priority of everyone in the workplace.
Sadly, the reality is that all too often, safety is not prioritized and people are hurt. For them, there are also legal rights to damages for any worker who is injured or killed in a work accident or work exposure to hazardous materials or toxins.
Both state and federal law provide worker victims and their loved ones with claims against those who are shown to have legal liability for the accident and its consequences. Not only the employer, but third parties including the landowner, contractors, product manufacturers, and repair companies may be liable for the harm suffered by the worker and the worker’s family members.
For more, read:
- Amazon Warehouse Workers: Risk of Severe Bodily Injury or Death on the Job as OSHA Investigations Continue
- Workplace Housekeeping and Serious Accidents on the Job: Duty of Care
- Rescue and Construction Fall Deaths: Employer’s Duty of Safety
- OSHA Warns of Accident Dangers in Illinois’ Food Processing Industry.
Workers need to know their rights, and it is a red flag for any worker in Indiana and Illinois whose employer is not freely informing them of everything provided to them under the law to keep them safe at work. Too many of our industrial workers in Indiana and Illinois are working in dangerous conditions. Please be careful out there!
