OSHA has just updated their criteria for reporting workplace fatalities and severe injuries.  The change will take place on January 1, 2015.

Currently, businesses are required to contact OSHA if there is a fatality or 3 or more individuals are hospitalized.  The new rule will require you to contact OSHA when the following occurs:

• All work-related fatalities (within 8 hrs)
• All work-related in-patient hospitalizations of one or more employees (within 24 hrs)
• All work-related amputations (within 24 hrs)
• All work-related losses of an eye (within 24 hrs)

Employers can report these events by telephone to the nearest OSHA Area Office during normal business hours or the 24-hour OSHA hotline 1-800-321-OSHA [6742], or electronically through a new tool which will be released soon and accessible at www.osha.gov/report_online.

 So, why the changes?  According to OSHA:

"Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 4,405 workers were killed on the job in 2013. We can and must do more to keep America's workers safe and healthy," said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. "Workplace injuries and fatalities are absolutely preventable, and these new requirements will help OSHA focus its resources and hold employers accountable for preventing them." Here is a flow chart that will help with the decision making process:

The second update was regarding the type of industries that are exempt from completing the OSHA 300 log.  The updated list is now based on NAICS codes and some industries who previously were exempt from OSHA recordkeeping requirements and are no longer exempt.  The new list is based on updated injury and illness data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For more information, please visit the 2014 OSHA Recordkeeping Page.

Posted ByJohn DeRoia, OHST, WCP®