Seyfarth Synopsis: Effective January 1,
2020, Cal/OSHA is revising its injury reporting obligations to be
more aligned with the injury reporting obligations under federal
OSHA.
As most employers with California operations know, Cal/OSHA has
unique injury/illness reporting requirements that differ from the
Federal OSHA reporting requirements. These differences are
important, and unawareness or confusion about them can lead to
liability. On January 1, 2020, changes to Cal/OSHA's reporting
requirements will go into effect. These changes will bring
Cal/OSHA's reporting requirements more in line with
Federal OSHA, but differences will still remain.
As background, under Federal law, employers are required to
notify OSHA when an employee is killed on the job or suffers a
work-related hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye. A
fatality must be reported within 8 hours and an in-patient
hospitalization, amputation, or eye loss must be reported within 24
hours.
