Workers on the job in our industrial worksites must be valued as having the most first-hand awareness of when things have become dangerous and there is an imminent risk of harm for everyone in the vicinity of the hazard. Workers know when things aren’t right. While managers and supervisors may be present in an oversight capacity, and while safety professionals like industrial hygienists can inspect during the day or shift, it is usually workers on the scene that will more likely suspect or perceive a threat.
For more on safety management, see: What is Industrial Hygiene? Expert Protection of Workers on the Industrial Worksite and Supervisors, Safety, and Work Accidents on the Job in Illinois and Indiana.
Unfortunately, employees are not given sufficient respect or power to take action and stop a preventable accident. All too often, companies and their insurance carriers have the attitude that workers should keep to their task at hand and leave policing or patrolling the workplace for dangers to those in positions of authority. This remains true in most industries today, despite the fact that many of our industrial workers are facing unacceptably high risks of catastrophic harm or death on the job in accidents involving known hazards and causes. See, Weber, David E., et al. ““We can stop work, but then nothing gets done.” Factors that support and hinder a workforce to discontinue work for safety.” Safety science 108 (2018): 149-160.
Safety regulations and industrial standards in place to protect workers from harm are being ignored or discounted with great regularity in Illinois, Indiana, and the rest of the country. People are being seriously injured or killed in work accidents that could have been avoided without this cavalier corporate attitude.
For more, read Rising Trend in Workers Killed on the Job: BLS Reports Highest Number of Worker Deaths Since 2008 and The Reality of Widespread Industrial Work Accident Deaths in Illinois and Indiana: Warning to Our Workers.
If the work danger is ignored by those in possession, custody, or control of the workplace, then what is a worker to do? How can a worker protect themselves and everyone around them? For many employees, this is a high-stress situation: will they be fired from a job that puts bread on their family table if they speak up? Will they be terminated if they refuse to continue work?
Stopping work or facing the risk of a horrific accident is the Catch-22 situation facing too many people on our industrial worksites today.
The Risk of Stopping Work: OSHA Guidance to Workers in Danger on the Job
Under federal law, an industrial worker has the right to stop working only in certain defined circumstances. If their situation comes within the regulatory definition, then the worker has legal protections against being terminated or otherwise punished for stopping work because of dangers on the job.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) explains that workers have a “legal right to refuse dangerous work” in these situations:
- 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.
How is the worker to approach their employer in these dangerous situations? OSHA advises the worker to do these things:
- 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.
Of course, this will not block the worker from being fired, suspended, or otherwise punished and becoming a victim of retaliation. After the fact, OSHA offers help and this has a short time deadline:
“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.”
For more, read: Dangerous Work Site: Your Right to Stop Work to Avoid Injury or Death.
Industrial Focus on Worker Participation in Safety
Bottom line, the Catch-22 still exists for many industrial workers in our part of the country. Some industries are trying to change things.
One of the ways things are changing is that industrial leaders are speaking to the need to help workers gain increased respect in helping keeping things safe on the jobsite. Within the commercial trucking industry, for instance, industry leaders are being encouraged to work with employees in a teamwork approach to reducing the number of semi-truck crashes on the road. Read, “MCE Executive Panel: Safety Culture Must Come From the Top: Leadership Should Build Trust With Their Employees Through Setting and Maintaining Right Tone on Safety,” published by Transport Topics on October 15, 2023.
Stop Work Authority Programs
Another way industrial employers are helping to give workers greater “safety-power” is through company “Stop Work Authority Programs,” or SWAs, where the employer approves a worker stopping work in the face of an on-site hazard.
What is a Stop Work Authority Program?
The ability of a worker to “stop work” with company approval in a SWA is defined by the National Safety Council (NSC) as a tool to stop work once an (1) unsafe act or (2) unsafe condition has been identified that needs addressing. See, “Stop Work Authority: A Safety Multiplier,” published by the National Safety Council on March 17, 2021.
A “stop work ticket” may be used to identify the risk. The worker is instructed that it is an employee’s responsibility and authority to initiate a Stop Work Immediately order if that worker believes there is immediate danger or risk of harm to that worker; any co-workers; or the environment itself. This can be done without fear of reprisal, and steps include first informing the immediate supervisor and thereafter the company safety officer.
Sadly, these Stop Work Authority Programs are not always up to snuff. If they are in place and respected by the powers-that-be, then workers can be confident in their right and ability to stop work on the site in the face of danger without worry of retaliation. Regrettably, all too often these programs are incomplete or ignored even though their goal is to prevent worker injuries and fatalities on the job.
Steel Industry: USW Push for Effective Stop Work Authority
Last year, the United Steelworkers (USW) published its 27-page “Bargaining for Stop Work Authority to Prevent Injuries and Save Lives,” online at no charge. The USW defined this work as “…the first and most comprehensive publication designed to help workers develop programs that allow them to stop unsafe or unhealthy operations and processes until hazards are resolved.”
Calling it a “path-breaking guide,” USW International President Tom Conway explained that “…OSHA does not require stop work authority, so it’s up to us. This booklet will be an essential part of protecting workers’ lives on the job.”
The USW Guide is designed to help workers negotiate with their employers (and others in positions of power, custody, and control of the worksite) for stop work authority using collective bargaining language and referencing the National Labor Relations Act.
Right to Stop Work: Keeping Workers Safe and Lowering the Trend of Work Accidents
Workers have the moral obligation to protect themselves and others on the worksite from being hurt or killed from recognized dangers or risks. Stopping work should be a serious decision, of course, but if an employee perceives a hazard, that opinion should be respected – not discounted by management, which is often the case.
The more people alert to risks on our dangerous industrial worksites, the better. And the faster that companies recognize the vital need to increase their respect for worker safety, the sooner we will see a decrease in the number of preventable work accidents where people are suffering life-altering injuries due to management prioritizing production (and profits) over people.
For more, read, “Stop Work Authority: A Principled-Based Approach,” written by Scott Gaddis and published by OH&S Magazine in November 2019.
When worker-victims and their families are hurt in a work accident, state and federal law offers avenues for justice that create legal liability for everyone who breached a duty of safety and care that led to the incident. See:
- Work Injuries and On-the-Job Accidents in Indiana and Illinois With Federal Law Protections: FELA, Jones Act, LHWCA, DBA
- The Two Main Differences Between Workers Compensation and Personal Injury Claims for Accident Victims in Indiana and Illinois
- Multiple Employers on the Construction Site: Who Is Liable For Construction Worker Accidents?
- Steelworkers’ Dangers on the Job: Top Five Steel Industry Hazards
- National Safety Month Spotlight: Workplace Hazards and Fatal Accidents.
Stop work authority should be a respected right for all industrial workers in Illinois and Indiana, particularly when industrial accident rates are so high. Today, too many companies fail to provide a stop work authority program within their safety plans or if they do, they are not effective or viable. Please be careful out there! Our team of injury attorneys can help injured victims in Chicago, Merrillville, Plymouth, South Bend and surrounding areas of Illinois and Indiana.
