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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has released a new workplace job safety and health notice. Specifically, the OSHA Cares Job Safety and Health poster informs workers about their rights under the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act. Per OSHA’s poster page, employers do not have to replace existing posters with the new version at this time. Among the many rules within the OSH Act, most employers and their safety programs must comply with the General Duty Clause. Earlier, in February 2026, OSHA issued guidance for employers on creating strong workplace safety programs.
What Is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)?
Overall, OSHA's mission is to assure America's workers have safe and healthful working conditions. Additionally, workplaces must be free from unlawful retaliation. According to the agency, it carries out its mission by:
- setting and enforcing workplace safety standards;
- enforcing anti-retaliation provisions of the OSH Act and other federal whistleblower laws;
- providing and supporting training, outreach, education, and assistance on workplace safety programs; and
- working collaboratively with state OSHA programs, ensuring that they are at least as effective as federal OSHA.
Finally, the OSH Act covers safety requirements for most private sector employers and their workers. These requirements are made available to prevent workplace injury and illness. The Act also covers some public sector employers and workers in the 50 states, certain territories, and federal jurisdictions.
What Is the General Duty Clause?
As noted earlier, the OSH Act establishes and enforces workplace safety and health standards. In doing so, it ensures safe and healthy working conditions for men and women. Notably, the “General Duty Clause” requires that all employers:
- shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees; and
- shall comply with occupational safety and health standards promulgated under this Act.
In compliance with the OSH Act’s General Duty Clause and to avoid OSHA safety violations and costly litigation, employers should recognize and fix common workplace hazards. On a small scale, these common workplace hazards could include blocked exit routes, trip hazards, and unstable stacked items.
Overview of the Latest Job Safety and Health Poster
By and large, the February 2026 Job Safety and Health poster was created as part of OSHA’s new “OSHA Cares” initiative. Basically, the agency wants every worker to know that it cares about their well-being. Additionally, OSHA wants to ensure employees go home safely at the end of every day. This can be done by:
- addressing concerns,
- providing helpful resources, or
- working with employers to improve workplace safety.
Previously, OSHA required affected businesses to display its “It’s the Law” notice, which explained workers’ rights and employer responsibilities relating to job safety and health. Now, however, the latest version of the poster only includes the list of workers’ rights. Those include the right to:
- A safe workplace
- Speak up about safety and health concerns without retaliation
- Report an injury or illness
- Training in a manner you understand
- Be provided [with the] required safety equipment
- Request an OSHA inspection and speak with the inspector
- File a complaint with OSHA about workplace hazards
- Free safety and compliance assistance from OSHA at any time
Finally, the notice is available in 16 different languages. It also includes a new web address (osha.gov/workers) for employees to contact the agency.
Employer Takeaways
In conclusion, OSHA wants employers to realize that, although this new poster was created to replace the “It’s the Law” version, businesses can continue to use the prior “It’s the Law!” version to meet posting requirements. Presently, if employers choose to display the latest “OSHA Cares” version of the Job Safety and Health poster, they must display it in a conspicuous location where workers can easily see and read it. It’s also important to note that while any employers covered by the federal OSHA must display either version of the notice, employers under OSHA State Plan programs may be required to display a state version of the latest poster. Because the revision is non-mandatory, WorkWise Compliance will be gradually updating affected products in the coming weeks and months to reflect the new poster.
