Workplace Safety Postings

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Most public and private employers, they’re going to fall under at least some of the posting requirements under federal, state, or local laws, regulations, and executive orders. These workplace posters, also known as labor law posters or notices, they’re generally meant to make employees aware of their rights under certain laws or executive orders, or otherwise impart information about the employer and or the law and that executive order that they need to know about. Employers need to be aware of the posting requirements that apply to them so that they can comply. Because, as I said, you know, not having the appropriate information posted may result in citations and fines.

So, some of these posting requirements, they have, of course, penalties associated with them for noncompliance. Just one example, failure to post federal employment law posters could potentially result in fines of over $32,000. That’s insane for a poster. But it’s important because the information that the poster conveys, that’s what the federal government has said to be after, is we want to be able to notify folks of the information in the posting. So, you know, in addition, it’s important to be in compliance with posting regulations because, you know, the posters, they could help the employer prove that it has made the employee aware of their rights under the law.

So, that’s really sort of where we should focus our conversation is that’s the minimum. The minimum is, you know, we posted this in the break room or the lunchroom or the bulletin board, the employee communication board, some common place where most information that you want to share with employees is posted. That’s going to be your first answer when you’re asked, did you make employees aware of their rights? Yep, we hung on a posting. So, you can always improve on that, but at a minimum, that’s the requirement, postings. So, we’re going to go through some of these.

Now, the posters, we’re going to talk about postings in a minute and the difference, but a poster, you know, that a private or public employer needs to display will depend on its location. You know, it depends on the number of employees who work for the employer, and it also is driven by your industry type or even some contracts that under which you perform like federal contracts. There’s some posters and notices depending upon if you’re a federal contractor, things like that. So, the scope of applicability is specified in the posting law, regulation, or executive order that impacts each of these types of industries. I’ll just give you a few examples.

So, the federal government enforces workplace posters under regulations and executive orders for poultry products inspection regulations has postings. Temporary employment of foreign workers in the U.S. So, if you have a workplace, and maybe in the tech industry, maybe in manufacturing, where you have temporary employment of foreign workers in the U.S., maybe under contract, 20 CFR 655, there are requirements for postings under that regulation. Construction and maintenance, 23 CFR 635, some federal posting regulations for them. Labor standards for federal service contracts. Establishing minimum wage for contractors. There is a posting requirement for that. That’s 29 CFR 10.

Migrant and seasonal agriculture worker protection. That is 29 CFR 500. There’s some posting requirements there in the workplace. 29 CFR 516 has some records to be kept by employees and has that posting requirement there. Family Medical Leave Act of 1993. That’s 29 CFR 825. 29 CFR 1904. I think most of us know that one. 1904. Which one’s, what’s that one, folks? Recording and reporting of occupational injuries and illnesses. So, we have a variety of federal regulations that apply to a variety of employer types that have different posting requirements. You’re supposed to know what they are. So, I’ll give some details on a couple of examples. So, one is a no-brainer. This one we see a lot.

The EEO is the law poster and that’s 41 CFR 6, what, dash 142? 1.42, yep. This poster applies to contractors and subcontractors who hold contracts or subcontracts with the federal government in any 12-month period that have a total value of more than $10,000. So, I think, you know, if you’re a federal subcontractor or contractor and you have a contract worth $10,000 or more, you’re going to fall under this 41 CFR 60-1.42. Here’s a good one. The Employee Rights, Employee Polygraph Protection Act. It applies to any employer engaged in or affecting commerce or in the production of goods for commerce.

It does not apply to federal, state, and local governments or to circumstances covered by the National Defense and Security Exemption. 29 CFR 525.14. This one may, you know, mostly HR folks may, this one’s going to ring a bell for you. Employee Rights for Workers with Disabilities Paid at Special Minimum Wages. Every employer of workers with disabilities under Special Minimum Wage Certificates authorized by any of the following laws have to display a poster described by this, the Department of Labor’s wage and hour division, and it explains the conditions under which Special Minimum Wages might be paid.

So the Fair Labor Standards Act, that’s Section 14C, McNamara and O’Hara Service Contract Act, the Walsh-Healy Public Contracts Act. So the poster has to be posted in a conspicuous place on the employer’s premises where employees and the parents or guardians of workers with disabilities can readily see it. Another one is the employee rights under the Davis-Bacon Act for laborers and mechanics employed on federal or federally assisted construction projects. There is a poster required under that one. So it’s the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts and the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act. There’s the employee rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act for federal minimum wage poster.

A lot of us have seen that one. There’s one that also applies to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the, oh gosh, American Samoa. So there’s different, they have their own specific part under that CFR, 29 CFR 516.4. And I talked, I mentioned this earlier, the employee rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act. That has to be posted for, to public agencies and public and private elementary and secondary schools and private sector employers who employ 50 or more employees in 20 or more work weeks and engaged in commerce or in any industry or activity affecting commerce. So, and there’s some, some specifics under that reg. That’s 29 CFR 825.300 or 0.402.

We have employee rights under the H2B program, the Immigration and Nationality Act, the employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act, 29 CFR 471.2. A lot of us have seen that one. If you’ve ever been a federal contractor, you see a lot of these driven by, you know, whether or not you have a contract with the federal government. The Equal Employment Opportunity is the law poster. So anyone with 15 or more employees and covered by the non-discrimination and equal employment opportunity law is required to post this poster. And it’s got to be seen by employees. You know, it’s got to be in a conspicuous and prominent place. 29 CFR 1601.30. That’s, you know, where one of them is.

I think, uh, 1627.10 and 41 CFR 60-1.42. Another poster, one we’ve probably all seen. 29 CFR 1903.2. Which, which one is that one, folks? Job Safety and Health. It’s the law poster. The OSHA 3165 poster. OSHA 3165 isn’t the regulation. It is the document number. It applies to all private employers engaged in a business affecting commerce. Boom. The image of all the workers standing there across there and it says it’s the law at the top and it’s the toll-free number to call OSHA. That’s got to be posted. So, some of those posters might be obscure to you. You know, it may not apply to you. Some of them apply to everybody.

The bottom line is it’s important to understand because all it takes is one inspection or regulator to come through. And you’re missing one or more posters that are supposed to be hanging up somewhere. And I like this one if it’s covered with something else. You’ve got these posters on a bulletin board. Somebody’s selling their old Chevy and sticks the flyer up and covers most of a poster that’s required by law. You’re probably going to get dinged for that. It starts at about $32,000 or so. That’s a pretty big chunk of money for a poster.

Now, let’s talk about other postings, not just the posters that are informative, but then there are some postings in general that we have to have in the workplace. So, you know, every employer is required to post the OSHA job and safety and health. It’s the law notice in the workplace. That’s an example of a notice, right, that we all have to comply with. Something else that falls under postings along with that are postings of citations. That’s 29 CFR 1903.16. So, upon completing an inspection in your workplace or at your job site, an OSHA compliance officer may issue the citations. Actually, the area director issues citations for hazards identified during the inspection.

These are alleged violations of the standard. When you receive the citations, you have to immediately post the citation at or near the place where the violation occurred, and it has to remain posted for three working days or until the unsafe condition has been corrected, whichever is longer. Even if you’re going to contest or you’re going to the informal conference, you still have to post it during that time. I get this one a lot. Well, what if there are no citations generated from the inspection? Sure. Okay. But let’s go with that. You’ll receive a notice indicating that no citations were issued, and you’ve got to post that notice for three working days.

Your OSHA 300A summary, anybody with, what, 11 or more employees, right? You’re required to maintain a log of work-related injuries and illnesses that fit the definition of a recordable injury under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. So, under the 1904 standards, you’re going to determine whether or not you have an injury or illness and whether or not it’s recordable. Determining work-relatedness, I did an episode a while back on that one. It’s actually one of the more popular ones. It gets high number of downloads.

Obviously, a lot of us out there scratch our heads on some of these injuries as to whether or not it’s work-related in the sense that it should be on the 300 log or if it’s exempted as, you know, some, like, personal errand or something or off the clock, they hadn’t clocked in yet, or they’re working out at the gym during their break and they got injured but it’s on our premises. All those types of questions. Look for that episode on is that injury or illness work-related, how to determine work-relatedness, and that’ll give you some good insight there. But there is a summary that you have to post every year. So, it’s an annual summary.

You have to post it in the workplace or at the job site in a location where the employer normally posts employee notices, is what this one says. And that’s from February 1 through April 30, right? So, May 1st, you can take that thing down. Another good one, the right-to-know poster. This is actually a poster, but it’s something that, you know, when we talk about HazCom, 1910-1200, it, you know, the HazCom standard itself does not require a notice to be posted concerning the worker right-to-know.

However, this is why I’m bringing this up, a number of state worker right-to-know laws and regulations do require a notice or a sign to be posted informing your employees of the availability of additional information from the employer on toxic or hazardous substances in the workplace. You’ve got to check your local OSHA office or with your state regulators on whether or not your state requires any other type of worker right-to-know notice that has to be posted for you. Here’s one, 29 CFR 1910, and that’s 1200G. Safety data sheets for the specific chemicals that are on the job site must be kept at the job site and be immediately available to workers.

Okay, this doesn’t mean that SDSs have to be posted on a bulletin board, but they might be in a notebook or three-ring binder hanging on a wall, but they have to be posted at the job site somewhere. And posted in this sense of the term is they’ve got to be available somewhere. So that has to be, you know, obvious that there is a binder somewhere in the job trailer or somewhere on the work site. There is an excerpt from OSHA’s letter of interpretation from 1999, going way back, clarification of systems for electronic access to, in this case, back then it was MSDSs.

The question was, if an employer maintains an electronic system as the primary means of providing material safety data sheets in the workplace, is it acceptable for employees to obtain hazard information verbally over the phone if the primary system is temporarily inoperable, meaning you can’t access it? Is it acceptable for employees to get, you know, hazard information over the phone in case of other types of emergencies?

So OSHA said, in the event of a power outage, equipment failure, or other quote-unquote emergency involving a foreseeable failure of the primary electronic system, OSHA would consider telephone transmittal of hazardous information to be an adequate backup as long as the MSDS is delivered to the site as soon as possible. So in emergencies other than failure of the primary electronic system, the MSDS must be available and would be considered, and they would consider telephone transmittal supplemental to the data sheets.

So employers who produce, use, or store hazardous chemicals at a multi-employer workplace situation, such as multiple contractors or on one job, or a contractor doing work within a facility, inside the facility, they must make MSDSs available to employees of the other employers. This can be done by making MSDSs available at a central location in the workplace. The MSDSs could be posted, if there aren’t too many, of course. So OSHA kind of, you know, laid down some allowances for job sites. But it’s clear the expectation is to have a physical copy somewhere on the job site available for those workers. All right.

You also got to post emergency numbers in areas where 911 service is not available. The telephone number of physicians, hospitals, or ambulances need to be conspicuously posted at your job sites. That’s 29 CFR 1926.50F. And 29 CFR 1926 are the construction regulations. So in a nutshell, I wanted to touch on some of the minimum posters and postings that you would probably fall into if you’re an employer in this country that you’re going to have to comply with. Federal contractors, there’s like a whole list of other ones that you’ve got to post.

But the bottom line is, like anything else we talk about on this podcast, as employers, you know, it’s up to us to understand what the regulations are and what we’re required to do under those regs. So, hey, there are so many to cover. I couldn’t cover all of them. But I want to hear, like, what’s the craziest posting that you’ve ever seen or been required to post somewhere in your workplace or in your past? Shoot me an email. I want to hear those, and we can highlight some of those. I want to stop and take a moment to talk to you about our partners in safety. whosonlocation.com. It’s a simple way to manage people.

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Help maintain the safety and health of your employees in your workplace with Mighty Line products. Go to MightyLineTape.com forward slash podcast. So, shoot me your emails. Let me know what weird, strange postings you’ve had to put up in your workplace. Give me some suggestions for other topics for the podcast as well. Always looking for good ideas. Actually, this one, this one was a topic, an email I got a while back. It just got into the queue and I never really got around to pulling together some examples of postings. But this was a good one. I like this one. Some of this housekeeping stuff we have to do as safety managers and employers that we sometimes forget about.

And this is one of them. It’s very important. So, go ahead and get familiar with the postings and posters that you’re required to display based on your state and local laws, certainly under federal regulations. But, again, until the next Safety Pro Podcast episode, please be safe.