Starting January 1, 2015 the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will enact new changes in its workplace incident reporting rules. These rules will increase the amount of reporting when it comes to hospitalizations caused by workplace injuries, as well as increase accountability and transparency among employers. According to U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez, the new requirements will “help OSHA focus its resources and hold employers accountable for preventing [workplace injuries and deaths].”
Here are the changes that will soon be in place:
- Employers must notify OSHA within 24 hours of a workplace injury that led to in-patient hospitalization, amputations or loss of an eye.
- Employers must notify OSHA of workplace death within eight hours of the incident.
- More industries will be required to keep OSHA 300 injury and illness records, which will be made available on OSHA’s website. Some of these industries include: specialty food stores, bakeries, automobile dealers, museums, activities related to real estate, and more.
- All employers must follow these requirements, including those who have been exempt from keeping OSHA records.
If you’d like to learn more about OSHA’s new record keeping and reporting rules, visit the following websites for more details:
- OSHA – Reporting Fatalities and Severe Injuries/Illnesses
- Updates to OSHA’s Reporting and Recordkeeping Rule: An Overview (PDF link)
- Risk and Insurance – OSHA Compliance: Ratcheting Reporting Rules
