Every new employee needs safety orientation training before starting work, along with transferred and temporary workers joining a site. Safety orientation explains the right to a safe workplace, the common hazards workers may face and how those hazards are identified and controlled. Supervisors often use it as part of onboarding.

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, known as the General Duty Clause, gives workers the right to a safe workplace. It requires employers to keep the workplace free from recognized hazards that cause or are likely to cause death or serious harm. Specific OSHA standards add detailed rules for particular hazards.

OSHA has no single standard requiring a general safety orientation, but many OSHA standards require training before employees work with specific hazards. Examples include hazard communication, personal protective equipment and lockout/tagout. A safety orientation is the most practical way to start meeting those requirements on day one.

A job hazard analysis (JHA) breaks a task into steps, identifies the hazards in each step and sets controls to remove or reduce them. It looks at how the worker, the task, the tools and the work environment interact. New employees benefit from knowing how JHAs shape the procedures they follow.

The most common workplace hazards include those that cause trauma or severe injury, such as falls and struck-by incidents, and those that cause occupational illness. Ergonomic risks leading to musculoskeletal injuries are also widespread. Many safety programs now address mental health and stress as workplace hazards too.