OSHA updates reporting requirements

To focus more on limiting work-related fatalities, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has released updated reporting requirements for employers. Beginning January 1, 2015, OSHA says covered employers will now be required to report all work-related fatalities within eight hours of an incident, and all in-patient hospitalizations, amputations and losses of an eye within 24 hours of finding about the incident.

Previously, employers were required to report all workplace fatalities and when three or more workers were hospitalized in the same incident.

OSHA says the updated reporting requirements do not deal with lessening paperwork, but to have a life-saving purpose: they restructured requirements enable employers and workers to prevent future injuries by identifying and eliminating the most serious workplace hazards.

Employers have three options for reporting severe incidents to OSHA, including:
 

 For more information and resources on the updated reporting requirements, visit www.osha.gov.