The Occupational Health and Safety Act requires employers to provide employees with a safe and healthy work environment.
The Occupational Health and Safety Bureau works to ensure this through:
- Documenting and tracking reports of injuries and fatalities in workplaces
- Compliance inspections
- Enforcement action
Enforcement
The New Mexico OSHA Compliance Section enforces safety and health regulations as provided in 11.5.1 NMAC, 11.5.2 NMAC, 11.5.3 NMAC, 11.5.4 NMAC, 11.5.5 NMAC, and 11.5.6 NMAC and within 29 CFR 1910 and 29 CFR 1926.
Enforcement of compliance is accomplished by work-site inspection and evaluation of safety and health programs. A citation may be issued for the violation of a standard and an employee exposed to safety and health hazards.
Inspections
The programs linked below have been established by the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau to provide focus for directing compliance and cooperative efforts of the Bureau.
In addition to regularly required workplace safety inspections, the Environment Department may choose to inspect a workplace if:
- A complaint is filed by an employee or their representative
- We receive a referral from another governmental agency or member of the public
- A workplace accident results in hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye.
- A workplace fatality occurs
Inspections consist of an opening conference, an inspection walk-around and a closing conference.
Citations
After an inspection employers may receive a Citation and Notification of Penalty that describes any violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 identified during the inspection. Employers must abate the violations and pay the penalties proposed, unless within 15 working days (excluding weekends and Federal holidays) from receipt of a Citation and Notification of Penalty the employer contests the violation.
If an employer wishes to contest all, or any portion of, a Citation and Notification of Penalty they should download and follow the directions inside the citation contest package linked below.
Reporting injuries and fatalities
Employers are required to report to the Occupational Health and Safety Bureau:
- All work-related fatalities within 8 hours
- A COVID-19 related fatality when the case may have been contracted in the workplace
- All work-related inpatient hospitalizations, amputations and losses of an eye within 24 hours
Employers may report injuries and fatalities as described above by email at complaints.osha@env.nm.gov.
You can also report injuries and fatalities by calling 1-877-610-OSHA (6742).