Yesterday OSHA announced a new final rule, effective January 1, 2015, that will increase the obligation of employers to report injuries to OSHA. Currently, federal OSHA requires that employers report work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations of three or more employees within 8 hours. The new rule will retain the obligation to report fatalities within 8 hours, but will change the obligation with respect to injuries. As of January 1, 2015, employers in states subject to federal OSHA jurisdiction must report, within 24 hours, all work-related in-patient hospitalizations (even of only one employee), amputations, and eye losses.

The requirement to report hospitalizations, amputations, and eye losses will apply to all such events taking place within 24 hours of the work-related incident. “In-patient hospitalization,” will be defined as “a formal admission to the in-patient service of a hospital or clinic for care or treatment.” “Amputations,” to be defined as the “traumatic loss of a limb or other external body part,” will include the severing or cutting off of a limb or appendage, partial amputations, fingertip amputations (with or without bone loss), medical amputations resulting from irreparable damage, and amputations of body parts that have since been reattached. Amputations will not include avulsions, enucleations, de-glovings, scalpings, severed ears, or broken or chipped teeth.

OSHA also has expanded the list of industries that are not required to keep injury and illness records (though they are still required to report fatalities, in-patient hospitalizations, amputations, and eye losses). Click here to access this list. Additionally, employers with 10 or fewer employees still are not required to maintain injury and illness records though, again, they have the same obligations to report fatalities, in-patient hospitalizations, amputations, and eye losses.

For more information on the new requirements, please visit OSHA's website for their News Release.