In a Twitter chat, OSHA sought to clarify a variety of aspects regarding its new reporting requirements, which went into effect on January 1, 2015.
The rule requires all employers to report directly to OSHA any incident in which a worker is killed or hospitalized, suffers an amputation, or loses and eye.
Employers will be able to report incidents via the phone and speak with the OSHA representative, or online at www.osha.gov, in which they will receive an email confirmation of their report.
Inpatient hospitalizations are only reportable if they happen within 24 hours of the work-related incident. The hospital or the clinic determines whether or not the worker was formally admitted as an in-patient.
OSHA stressed that employers must comply with the new requirements at the beginning of 2015. Before the requirements were put in place, employers only had to report work-related deaths and hospitalizations of three or more workers. OSHA changed its reporting requirements because hospitalizations and losses of an eye are “significant events” that may indicate the existence of serious hazards at worksites.
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Source: Safety and Health Magazine