RBS News

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has announced an updated rule increasing employer notification obligations effective January 1, 2015.  Employers will be required to notify OSHA whenever an employee is killed on the job, suffers a work-related hospitalization, suffers an amputation or the loss of an eye.

The current regulation requires employers to report work-related fatalities and in- patient hospitalizations of three or more employees within eight hours of the event.  Under the revised rule, employers will be required to notify OSHA of work-related fatalities within eight hours, and work-related in-patient hospitalizations, amputations or losses of an eye within 24 hours.  OSHA defines in-patient hospitalization as a formal admission to the in-patient service of a hospital or clinic for care or treatment.

Under current law, employers that have fewer than 11 employees are not required to keep OSHA injury records.  Further there are industries regardless of the amount of employees that are exempt from reporting requirements, a list of which may be found at https://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/ppt1/RK1exempttable.html.  However, all employers under OSHA jurisdiction must report fatalities, in-patient hospitalizations, amputations, and losses of an eye to OSHA, even if they are exempt from routinely keeping OSHA records. 

Thus, beginning on January 1, 2015, employers must report the following to OSHA:

• Any employee fatality as a result of a work-related incident.
• Any in-patient hospitalization of one or more employees as a result of a work-related incident.
• Any employee amputation as a result of a work-related incident.
• Any employee loss of an eye as a result of a work-related incident.

You have three options for reporting the event:

• By telephone to the OSHA Area Office nearest to the site of the work-related incident. Information about OSHA Area Offices.
• By telephone to the 24-hour OSHA hotline (1-800-321-OSHA or 1-800-321-6742).
• Electronically, using the event reporting application that will be located on OSHA's website.

You must give OSHA the following information for each fatality, in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye:

• The establishment name;
• The location of the work-related incident;
• The time of the work-related incident;
• The type of reportable event (i.e., fatality, in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye);
• The number of employees who suffered a fatality, in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye;
• The names of the employees who suffered a fatality, in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye;
• Your contact person and his or her phone number; and
• A brief description of the work-related incident.

Further information regarding the new OSHA reporting requirements can be found at https://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping2014/faqs.html#reporting.  Should you have a question regarding the foregoing or any other safety-related issues please do not hesitate to contact either Ryan Neumeyer or Brian Brittain at 216-447-1551.