New OSHA Reporting Mandate Includes Single Employee Hospitalization

Prior to January 1, 2015, employers should take steps to ensure compliance with a significant new OSHA rule that requires employers to notify OSHA within 24 hours of the in-patient hospitalization of more than one employee or an employee's amputation or loss of an eye.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has revised its Occupational Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting Requirements, codified at 29 C.F.R. § 1904.2 and 29 C.F.R. § 1904.39, effective January 1, 2015. The revised rule was published on September 18.¹

Most significantly, the revised rule contains a new reporting requirement, which mandates that employers report to OSHA within 24 hours of any work-related incident that results in (a) the in-patient hospitalization of one or more employees, (b) an employee's amputation, or (c) an employee's loss of an eye. Previously, employers were only required to report to OSHA within eight hours of any work-related incident that resulted in