• Employees have an interest in working with their employers to improve safety and health.

Employees have an obvious interest in working with their employers to improve safety and health at their own establishments, since their very lives and livelihoods are at stake. Moreover, workers possess a keen awareness of the many hazards to which they are exposed during their operations. Many workplaces have tapped into this important resource and have achieved successful results with innovative approaches that involve safety and health programs and cooperative efforts between management and labor.

In an effective safety and health program, all workers:

• Are encouraged to participate in the program and feel comfortable providing input and reporting safety or health concerns;
• Have access to information they need to participate effectively in the program;
• Have opportunities to participate in all phases of program design and implementation; and
• Do not experience retaliation when they raise safety and health concerns; report injuries, illnesses, and hazards; participate in the program; or exercise safety and health rights.