Posted on: October 30, 2025

Reporting OSHA Violations: A Step-By-Step Guide

Reporting OSHA violations is an important responsibility for anyone concerned with workplace safety, but many people are hesitant about the procedure and the potential blowback they could experience.

It’s one of the things we cover in OSHA Outreach courses, but today we’re going to share a step-by-step guide to OSHA complaints so you can contribute to a safer work environment. Below, we’ll walk you through the reporting process and answer any questions or concerns that may arise.

What Is OSHA and What Do They Do?

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was founded by Congress with the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1971 with the mission of reducing workplace-induced deaths, injuries, and illnesses.

OSHA requires employers under its jurisdiction to maintain a safe and healthful workplace. It creates safety standards designed to protect employees in a variety of industries – including construction, maritime operations, and general industry – and offers consultation, outreach, and education to support compliance.

It also undertakes monitoring and enforcement actions. OSHA monitors and inspects workplaces to keep employers accountable. When employers breach workers' rights and neglect compliance, they’re empowered to issue citations with monetary penalties and, in extreme cases, recommend the Department of Justice bring criminal charges against negligent employers.

What Are OSHA Complaints and Why Do They Matter?

Although OSHA can and does conduct routine inspections for a number of reasons, they can’t be everywhere at once. They rely on complaints filed by workers, other government agencies, or organizations like the media to alert them to potential compliance issues.

Workers are obviously the most important source of information since they see hazards up close and personal. To ensure OSHA complaints can safely be made, there are certain employee rights OSHA has enshrined for workers, including the rights to:

Notify your employer about workplace hazards without fear of retaliation or discrimination
File a safety and health complaint with OSHA confidentially
Take part in an OSHA inspection, directly or through a representative
Speak in private with the OSHA inspector
File a complaint with OSHA if your employer retaliates against you as an OSHA

How To Report an OSHA Violation Step-By-Step

If you suspect unsafe conditions in a workplace, you should report it. You’ll find everything you need to know about submitting OSHA complaints below.

Step 1: Identifying OSHA Violations

Well, you can use OSHA’s Establishment Search to see the results of past OSHA inspections of your workplace so you can make sure your employer is now in compliance with these rules.

But the best way to recognize OSHA violations is to take a course like OSHA 10 Construction or General Industry. You’ll learn the most common categories of hazards for your industry so you’ll know a safety problem when you see one. If you’re a supervisor, we recommend OSHA 30 courses instead. They’ll give you a broader sense of the safety hazards that could be encountered by your employees.

Do I Need To Know What OSHA Rule Is Being Broken To Submit a Complaint?

If something looks unsafe and you’re not sure of the exact standard, don’t let that stop you from reporting it. OSHA doesn’t expect you to know the exact violation. They just ask you to describe the hazard and where it’s taking place.

In fact, employers don’t even need to be violating a specific standard. Under the General Duty Clause, employers are expected to protect you from any safety or health hazard that can be detected with “common-sense recognition”.

Step 2: Know Your Rights

We outlined a few of the relevant employee rights OSHA has established, but when someone is considering an OSHA complaint, they often have a few concerns that we’ll address here.

Can an OSHA Complaint Be Anonymous?

To submit a complaint, you have to let OSHA know who you are. But you can ask them to keep your name confidential. There’s even a question for that on the form.

Can My Employer Fire Me for Filing an OSHA Complaint?

Whether you’re filing an official OSHA complaint or simply pointing out a safety problem to your supervisor, you don’t have to be afraid of wrongful termination or workplace retaliation.

Employee protections under OSHA’s whistleblower laws make it illegal for employers to retaliate against workers for exercising their OSHA rights. More on this later.

Can My Employer Fire Me for Refusing To Work Under Unsafe Conditions?

OSHA allows you to lawfully refuse unsafe work, but only under very specific conditions and only for the hazardous work in question.

Your right to refuse unsafe work only protects you if:

Conditions present an obvious risk of death or serious physical harm;
The danger is so immediate that waiting for an OSHA inspection isn't practical;
Someone has brought the threat to the employer's attention and given them the chance to eliminate it;
Your employer can't (or won't) correct the condition; AND
You have no reasonable alternative to protect yourself.

If all those conditions are met, your employer can't legally retaliate against you for refusing to perform imminently risky work.

This right does NOT allow you to walk off the job site or refuse to perform other kinds of work. It only lets you refuse to put yourself in harm's way.

Step 3: Submit Your OSHA Complaint

If working conditions appear to be dangerous or unhealthy, OSHA allows you to submit your complaint via:

Mail/Fax
Online Submission
Phone: 1-800-321-OSHA (6742)
Local OSHA visit/in person

What if My OSHA Complaint Is an Emergency?

If you believe the situation is imminently life-threatening, use the phone number above and stress the immediate danger to life and health.

Step 4: Expect An Investigation (But It May Lack Drama)

Unless there is immediate danger, the first thing OSHA will do after they receive a complaint is call or fax your employer about the alleged hazards. If the employer is cooperative, OSHA will ask them to make a plan for taking corrective action and then follow up until the hazard has been abated.

If a complaint indicates imminent danger, if the employer isn’t responsive enough to the phone/fax investigation, or if your employer has had serious infractions in the past, OSHA will escalate the complaint to include an in-person investigation. You have the right to be involved in the site visit and speak to the inspector or send a representative in your place.

Step 5: Expect Consequences For the Employer

If OSHA violations are found during the investigation, a few things will happen, some of which should be visible to you as an employee.

OSHA will issue a citation.
Your employer will post a copy of OSHA’s notice near the place where the violation occurred, so everyone is aware of the hazard.
OSHA will set a deadline for corrective actions, and there will be penalties for late compliance.
The citation may come with a penalty.

Serious offenses can result in fines as high as $16,131, and repeated or willful violations can cost up to $161,323. Certain violations can even lead to jail time depending on threats to life, seriousness of injuries, and actual loss of life.

Step 6: What To Do If You Face Retaliation

OSHA protects whistleblowers, which includes people who believe an employer is acting against them for reporting a potential violation.

It’s not just wrongful termination that’s off the table. Any retaliatory action can be reported under OSHA whistleblower laws, and their definition is broad.

What Are Some Examples of Workplace Retaliation Banned by OSHA?

The list of retaliatory offenses includes:

Reducing pay or hours or denying overtime or benefits
Disciplining, demoting, or reassigning to a less desirable position
Denying promotion or letting protected actions affect promotion prospects
Firing, laying off, or failing to hire or rehire
Blacklisting (defined as intentionally interfering with an employee’s ability to obtain future employment)
Inducing constructive discharge (defined as making work conditions intolerable in retaliation for protected activity to make the employee decide to quit)
Intimidation, harassment, or making threats, as well as more subtle actions, such as ostracizing, mocking, isolating, or falsely accusing the employee of poor performance
Reporting the employee to the police or immigration authorities

How Do I File a Retaliation Complaint With OSHA?

If you believe you’ve been discriminated against by an employer for raising safety concerns, it’s important that you report it right away because the law only protects you if you report it within 30 days.

OSHA whistleblower or workplace retaliation complaints can be submitted online or by contacting your local OSHA office – whether that’s by mail, fax, email, phone, or in person.

You should be prepared for a lack of anonymity in a whistleblower case. The nature of the case requires your identity to be disclosed to your employer.

Learn More About OSHA Rights, Employer Responsibilities, and Safety Standards

OSHA’s rules and protections are only effective when both employees and employers know what they are. That’s one of the reasons that OSHA requires employers to provide OSHA compliance training to all workers in language they can understand.

While OSHA requires training on many topics, its Outreach Training is designed to provide an introduction to the most relevant safety information for your industry and role. These courses are designed to educate you on OSHA’s mission, all the worker rights and employer responsibilities they enforce, how to recognize different categories of hazards, and how OSHA expects those hazards to be eliminated, reduced, or mitigated.

As an OSHA-authorized Outreach provider for over 20 years, we offer online OSHA 10 courses for workers and OSHA 30 courses for supervisors. You can learn at your own pace and from any device with an internet connection. Content is designed to be engaging and make the information stick. We also offer courses entirely in Spanish for workers who prefer learning in their native language, ensuring accessibility and understanding across industries.

Enroll today to protect yourself and your coworkers!