The Justification for Refusing Hazardous Work

Employees have a right to refuse hazardous work, however, the hazard that employees believe exist must involve a high degree of serious risk or harm. Refusing to work because of a slight chance of a minor injury is less likely to be justified. A minimal requirement that has been insisted on by the courts is that employees act in good faith. Acting in good faith means that employees honestly belief that if they do the hazardous work, they will come to some serious harm or even death and they simply want to protect themselves from that hazard. The good faith requirements serves to mostly exclude refusals to carry out hazardous work based on deliberately false charges of unsafe work conditions or to sabotage employers.