OSHA Announces New Requirements For Reporting Severe Injuries Effective For 2015
Earlier today, OSHA announced a final rule requiring employers to notify OSHA when an employee is killed on the job or suffers a work-related hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye. The rule, which also revises the list of employers partially exempt from OSHA recordkeeping requirements, goes into effect for workplaces under federal OSHA jurisdiction on January 1, 2015. Under the rule, employers must notify OSHA of work-related fatalities within eight hours, and work-related in-patient hospitalizations, amputations, or losses of an eye within 24 hours. Previously, OSHA regulations required reporting of work-related fatalities, and in-patient hospitalizations of three or more employees. Even employers who are otherwise exempt from maintaining injury and illness records are required to comply with OSHA’s new severe injury and illness reporting requirements, which will be able to be met electronically. The final rule can be viewed here.
