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OSHA Inspections After a Complaint Has Been Filed

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If we have an employee in our Maine office that has filed an OSHA complaint, are we definitely going to get inspected by OSHA?

You will most likely get inspected. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has two ways of classifying inspection requests: as formal and as informal complaints. If you had an employee that filed a claim directly with OSHA, then chances are good that you will get a visit from an OSHA inspector.

Here are the differences between a formal and an information OSHA complaint:

Formal Complaint

A formal complaint is a complaint that is signed by the complainant (your employee.) This complaint will describe the alleged violation in the workplace. The complain should also indicate that there is a health or safety situation in your company that poses in imminent danger to employees or to the public, or it should indicate that there has been a violation of an OSHA regulation that has caused or may cause physical harm to the public or to employees of your company.

The formal complaint needs to be filed by a current employee or your company or by a representative of your employee. This employee needs to have personally witnessed or been exposed to the workplace hazards that he or she lists in the complaint.

An on-site inspection will be arranged if OSHA officials believe that the employee has made a reasonable claim against the company. OSHA inspectors will investigate the claim and look for violations or hazards in your workplace.

Nonformal (Informal) Complaint

A nonformal complaint is a complaint that is either given orally or that is written but unsigned. These nonformal complaints are most often given by former employees of a company or by people who are not and have not been employees (such as a customer).These complaints are usually investigated by an OSHA official first via telephone or through a letter to the employer. They also might lead to an on-site inspection of the workplace if an OSHA official believes that an on-site inspection is necessary.  CB