# Workplace safety

> Stop the work, make the area safe, and report it. An unsafe job never becomes safe by finishing it.

The OSH Act of 1970 puts the duty on the employer: the General Duty Clause requires a workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious harm. OSHA writes the detailed rules, inspects, and protects workers who speak up.

## Step by step
1. Know the hazards of your job and where the safety data sheets, the first aid kit and the AED are kept.
2. Use the protective equipment provided, and report it when it is damaged, missing or the wrong size. Required PPE is on the employer's dime.
3. Report near misses in writing. A near miss is a free lesson that a serious accident would otherwise teach.
4. If danger is imminent, stop the work, warn coworkers, move to safety and tell your supervisor. Ask for the hazard to be corrected.
5. After any accident, secure the scene, give first aid, and write down what happened before memories change. Work deaths must reach OSHA within 8 hours, inpatient hospitalizations, amputations and eye losses within 24.
6. If the employer will not fix a serious hazard, file a complaint with OSHA at 1-800-321-6742 or osha.gov. Complaints can be confidential.
7. Attend the safety training the employer must provide, in a language you understand, during working hours.

## Never do this
- Do not bypass a guard, an interlock or an alarm because it slows the job down.
- Do not work at height, in a confined space, or on live electrical equipment without the required training and permit.
- Do not stay silent out of fear. Retaliation for reporting a hazard is illegal under OSHA's whistleblower rules, section 11(c).

## Call emergency services if
- Any accident with injury, unconsciousness, burns or heavy bleeding.
- A chemical release, a fire, a collapse, or a fall from height.
- Anyone trapped in machinery or in a confined space.

## Emergency numbers
911 - Emergency call

## Common questions
### Can I refuse dangerous work?
Yes, under narrow conditions: you asked the employer to remove a real danger of death or serious injury, there is no time for an OSHA inspection, and no reasonable alternative exists. Refuse in good faith, stay at the site, and call OSHA. Retaliation for that refusal is illegal.

### Who has to provide first aid at work?
The employer. OSHA 29 CFR 1910.151 requires trained first aid personnel when a clinic or hospital is not near, plus adequate supplies, and eyewash and shower where corrosives are used.

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Use at your own risk. Educational and research use only, not medical advice. Verify numbers and rules for the country you are in. They change.
Source: https://emergency-cards.com/en-us/workplace-safety/
Reviewed: 2026-07-26