Workplace Safety & OSHA Essentials

01Employer-provided PPE

With few exceptions, OSHA requires employers to provide most required personal protective equipment (hard hats, safety glasses, gloves, etc.) at no cost to employees — narrow exceptions include everyday clothing, weather gear, and non-specialty safety footwear/prescription eyewear usable off the job.

02Hazard Communication & Safety Data Sheets (SDS)

OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard requires chemical manufacturers to supply Safety Data Sheets for hazardous chemicals, and employers must keep those SDSs accessible to employees and properly label containers.

03Lockout/Tagout (LOTO)

LOTO procedures isolate and lock out a machine's energy sources before service or maintenance, preventing unexpected start-up or release of hazardous energy that could injure a worker.

04Fall protection trigger heights

OSHA requires fall protection starting at 4 feet above a lower level in general industry (e.g., warehouses) and at 6 feet in most construction work.

05Right to refuse dangerous work

A worker may refuse a task if they have a good-faith, reasonable belief it presents imminent danger of death or serious injury, there's no time to fix it through normal channels, and — where possible — they've already asked the employer to correct it.

06Recordable vs. first aid, and ladder safety

OSHA treats minor, defined treatments (like a bandage) as first aid, not recordable; injuries needing more than that (like stitches) are typically OSHA recordable. Separately, ladder safety requires maintaining 3 points of contact while climbing, and for extension ladders, setting the base out 1 foot for every 4 feet of working height (the 4-to-1 rule).