Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Act (VOSH)

The “Job Safety and Health Protection” poster

Advises an employee of their rights and responsibilities under the OSHA law.

• All private and public employers must post this notice, and are subject to a citation and possible fine if this poster is not displayed.
  • Here's a direct link to the poster: Virginia_Occupational-_Safety_and_Health_Poster_English_2019.pdf
  • Here's the Federal version of the poster, which is less state-specific: OSHA's Free Workplace Poster | Occupational Safety and Health Administration

• In 1972, the Virginia General Assembly created the statutory framework necessary to establish what is now known as the Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Program (VOSH) and the Virginia State Plan (Chapter 567 of the 1972 Acts of the General Assembly). The program and plan are placed under the jurisdiction of the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI).  

• VOSH consists of two major units: compliance and consultation services. The compliance unit inspects places of work; issues citations and penalties for violations of established occupational standards; and responds to fatalities, incidents, and worker complaints about workplace safety and health hazards. VOSH also conducts randomly scheduled inspections of high-hazard industries. In addition to enforcement efforts, VOSH provides compliance assistance through targeted outreach, education, and training to emphasize increased awareness on the part of both employers and workers of the importance of a safety and health culture
• The role of VOSH is to enforce safety and health regulations for general industry, construction, agricultural, and SLG maritime employers. All standards adopted by the Safety and Health Codes Board apply to all employers who have workers working within the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth of Virginia. VOSH covers both SLG employers and workers and private sector employers and workers in Virginia, with the exception of: federal workers, the United States Postal Service, private sector maritime, federal military facilities, and other federal enclaves where the state has ceded coverage to the federal government
• VOSH mirrors the federal program as closely as possible while recognizing the autonomy and unique characteristics of the state. The majority of VOSH standards are identical to OSHA standards. However, VOSH has enacted unique regulations covering confined space hazards in telecommunication industries; overhead high voltage line safety; fall protection in steel erection’ reverse signal operation of vehicles, machinery and equipment in construction and general industry; compliance with manufacturer’s instructions for vehicles, machinery, tools and equipment in general industry, construction, maritime (SLG only), and agriculture; and tree trimming operations. In these instances, OSHA either does not have a comparable standard addressing the specific hazard or condition, or if it does, the federal standard differs substantially.

See Also: 

• Virginia State Plan | Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha.gov)
• Virginia | Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha.gov)
• Safety - Workforce Wellness (virginia.gov)
• Virginia FAME Report (osha.gov)
• ARM-05.11.2020.pdf (virginia.gov)

If you would like a hard copy of this poster:

• Send request by email to: webmaster@doli.virginia.gov
• Or visit https://www.doli.virginia.gov/resources/request-a-poster/
• The owners of this poster and its future editions can be found at:
  • Virginia Department of Labor and Industry
    Occupational Safety and Health Program
    13 South Thirteenth Street
    Richmond, Virginia 23219-4101
    (804) 371-2327

The poster is pictured below, in both English and Spanish:

Here is the Federal version of the poster as well: