## About FOIA

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552, requires federal agencies to disclose records after receiving a written request for them, except to the extent that such records (or portions of them) are protected from public disclosure by certain provisions of FOIA.  On this page, you will find (1) the specific procedures for making a FOIA request to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC); (2) OSHRC’s FOIA contact information; and (3) direct links to several records available through OSHRC’s website.

Submit a FOIA Request

Presentar solicitud FOIA

 

**FOIA Requester Service Center**

The OSHRC FOIA Requester Service Center is available to requesters seeking information concerning the status of their submitted FOIA request.

Occupational Safety and Health Review CommissionFOIA Requester Service Center1120 20th Street, NW, 9th FloorWashington, D.C.  20036-3457Email: OSHRC­­ FOIA@Oshrc.gov

Telephone:  (202) 606-5724Fax:  (202) 606-5417

 

Additional information about the FOIA request process may be found in OSHRC’s Freedom of Information Act Reference Guide.

 

**FOIA Public Liaison**

If you have concerns about the service you have received following an initial response to a FOIA request, you may contact OSHRC’s FOIA Public Liaison at the same email, address, telephone number, and fax number as the FOIA Requester Service Center.  The FOIA Public Liaison is responsible for assisting in reducing delays, increasing transparency and understanding of the status of requests, and assisting in the resolution of any disputes.

FOIA Public Liaison: Noelle Chadwick

 

***Please note that****OSHRC****is****not****affiliated with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (****OSHA****). **OSHRC was created by Congress in the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, 29 U.S.C. §§ 651-678.  OSHRC is an independent federal agency, providing administrative trial and appellate review, to decide contests of citations or penalties resulting from inspections of American workplaces by OSHA, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Labor.

OSHRC functions as a two-tiered adjudicative agency, with established procedures for: (1) conducting hearings, receiving evidence, and rendering decisions by its Administrative Law Judges; and (2) providing for discretionary review of Administrative Law Judge decisions by a panel of Commissioners when appellate review is granted.  Thus, most records maintained by OSHRC are case files involving contests of OSHA citations or penalties.  OSHA, not OSHRC, maintains records such as investigation files. For more information, please visit OSHA’s FOIA website at: https://www.osha.gov/foia.

OSHRC’s FOIA regulations reflect the amendments to FOIA from the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act of 2007 (OPEN Government Act) and the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016, as well as OSHRC's current policies, practices, and procedures.  OSHRC amended these regulations again in 2020 to include minor revisions regarding tolling of FOIA requests, fees associated with processing requests, and references to its Privacy regulations. The relevant Federal Register notices can be found here: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-12-27/pdf/2016-31133.pdf and here:  https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-11-13/pdf/2020-24003.pdf.

 

OSHRC Regulations Implementing the Freedom of Information Act

OSHRC FOIA Improvement Plan [HTML] [PDF]

OSHRC e-FOIA Reading Room

OSHRC Annual FOIA Reports

OSHRC Open Government Page