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OSHA ENFORCEMENT
Under the OSH Act, employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace. OSHA's mission is to assure safe and healthful workplaces by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance. This page contains information about OSHA's enforcement activities. If you have questions, need additional information, want to file a complaint, or would like to contact OSHA, please call 1-800-321-OSHA (6742). You can also e-mail us your questions (e-mail OSHA). It's confidential. We are here to help.
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OSHA Jurisdiction:

  • Covers private sector employers
  • Excludes self-employed, family farm workers, and government workers (except in state plan states)
  • Approves and monitors 27 State Plan states which cover private and public sector employees.
  • Assists Federal Agency Programs

OSHA Inspections:

  • Conducted without advance notice
  • On-site inspections, or Phone/Fax investigations
  • Highly-trained compliance officers
  • See Fact Sheet on OSHA Inspections [359 KB PDF*]

Inspection Priorities:

  • Imminent danger
  • Catastrophes
  • Worker complaints and referrals
  • Targeted inspections - high injury/illness rates, severe violators
  • Follow-up inspections

Accessibility Assistance: Documents posted on these pages that are not HTML formatted are available as text-enabled PDF* documents and other Microsoft Office® formats. They are labelled accordingly. If additional assistance is needed with accessing the documents, please contact Bob Patterson at (202) 693-2129.
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RESOURCES

 

COMPLAINTS

 

EMERGENCY NOTICE

If you have an EMERGENCY, e.g., to report a fatality or imminent life-threatening situation, contact our toll-free number immediately:

  • 1-800-321-OSHA (6742)
  • TTY 1-877-889-5627

DO NOT SEND E-MAIL