The OSH Act gives compliance officers the right to enter without delay to inspect. However, employers do have a right to refuse entry without a warrant, under the fourth amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Employers must recognize that OSHA compliance officers will obtain a warrant, and employers should expect that OSHA will conduct a more thorough inspection once obtaining the warrant. Note: In some cases, where OSHA anticipates a refusal, the agency may seek out a warrant before showing up to the site for the inspection.

Warrant applications for establishments where consent has been denied for a limited scope inspection (i.e., complaint, referral, and accident investigation) are normally limited to the specific working conditions or practices forming the basis of the inspection.

A broader inspection warrant may be sought only when there is reasonable belief, based on specific evidence (e.g., injuries or illnesses recorded in both OSHA forms 300 and 301, employee statements, or plain view observations), that violative conditions could be found in other areas of the workplace.

Ordinarily, injury and illness data from the OSHA 300 logs alone will not be sufficient to support a broader inspection, but OSHA 300 data in conjunction with other specific evidence — including incident report information from OSHA 301 forms, employee statements, or plain view observations — can be used to support an expanded inspection when the injuries or illnesses found in the OSHA 300 logs can be tied to a specific violative condition in the workplace.

For more information, see OSHA’s Field Operations Manual (CPL 02-00-164).