On September 11, 2014, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced a final rule that significantly changes an employer’s duties to report workplace injuries to the agency. The current rule, codified at 29 C.F.R. §1904.39, only requires employers to report to OSHA workplace-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations of three or more employees. Employers have an eight-hour deadline from the time of the incident to make the report to the nearest OSHA area office or to its toll-free hotline.

The revised rule, which goes into effect on January 1, 2015, significantly alters an employer’s reporting requirements by changing the in-patient hospitalization reporting requirements and by adding a requirement that employers report amputations and the loss of an eye as a result of a work-related incident. More details on the new OSHA rule can be found in our blog post, “OSHA Announces Significant Alterations to Reporting Requirements.”

Note: This article was published in the September 12, 2014 issue of the Workplace Safety eAuthority.