On September 11, 2014, OSHA issued new requirements for reporting severe injuries and fatalities, which will go into effect on January 1, 2015. The list of industries exempt from routine injury and illness record-keeping requirements was also updated.
The revised rule requires employers to notify OSHA of a work-related fatality within eight hours, and work-related in-patient hospitalizations, amputations, or losses of an eye within twenty-four hours. Prior to this revision, employers were only required to report work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations of three or more employees. All employers that fall under The Occupational Safety and Health Act are required to comply with the severe injury and illness reporting requirements, even if they are exempt from maintaining an OSHA 300 log. An electronic reporting form for employers is being developed by OSHA to assist with compliance.
Specific industries are partially exempt from the injury and illness recordkeeping requirements found in 29 CFR 1904.1-1904.11 using the OSHA 300 log. This list of industries with relatively low occupational injury rates has been updated with the revised rule based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2007, 2008, and 2009. In addition, the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is used to classify facilities by industry rather than the old Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system in the new rule. The revised recordkeeping regulation maintains the exemption for employers with ten or fewer employees at all times during the previous calendar year.
Make sure that your facility is aware of the revised recordkeeping rule.