In April of this year, OSHA released a new version of the “Job Safety and Health — It’s The Law!” poster detailing workers’ rights and employers’ obligations. The poster, which can be downloaded for free from OSHA’s website, should be displayed prominently in all workspaces. The agency’s press release about the poster’s update stresses the importance of easily accessible information about workers’ rights and the help that OSHA can offer.
The first statement on the poster itself is that workers have the right to a safe workplace. This is an easy enough idea to accept; however, employees who work in unsafe conditions may not realize that the threat their workplace poses is not only dangerous to their personal health and well-being, but is also illegal. The poster’s emphasis of this idea is crucial to ensuring workers’ understanding of their own situation and rights. The right to request an OSHA inspection of their workplace, receive information and training on job hazards, report a work-related injury or illness, and raise safety and health concerns with their employer or OSHA without being retaliated against are included on the poster as well.
Employers are also required to train workers in languages that they understand and operate in. OSHA’s official statement on the poster makes no mention of whether or not employers must present this poster in multiple languages, but is available in several. It may or may not be illegal to withhold non-English versions of the Job Safety and Health poster, but choosing to only present an English version to a multilingual workforce is certainly bad practice. The poster is available for ordering, online viewing, and printing in English and Spanish. It can also be viewed online and printed in Korean, Nepali, Chinese, Polish and Portuguese.
