by Brianna Crandall — March 23, 2016—In the first year of a new reporting requirement, employers notified the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of more than 10,000 severe work-related injuries, creating the opportunity for the agency to work with employers to eliminate hazards and protect other workers.
Since January 1, 2015, employers have been required to report any severe work-related injury — defined as a hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye — within 24 hours. The requirement that an employer report a workplace fatality within eight hours remains in force.
In the first full year of the program, employers reported 10,388 severe worker injuries, including 7,636 hospitalizations and 2,644 amputations. In a majority of those cases, OSHA responded by working with the employer to identify and eliminate hazards, rather than conducting a worksite inspection.
OSHA found some employers exceeded the agency’s requirements to protect workers from future incidents. Unfortunately, a few responded with callous disregard, noted OSHA—one manufacturer tried to hide an entire room full of machinery from OSHA inspectors.
The evaluation of 2015 results, which breaks out the top 25 reporting industries, notes that by instituting the requirement, the agency can better target resources where needed, and engage employers in high-hazard industries to identify and eliminate hazards. The evaluation finds the reporting requirement is meeting both goals.
OSHA says it will continue to evaluate the program and make changes to improve its effectiveness. The agency is also seeking new ways to advise small employers about their reporting obligations and the resources available to them.
The full Year One of OSHA’s Severe Injury Reporting Program: An Impact Evaluation report is available on the OSHA Web site. To learn more about how to report worker injuries, see OSHA’s Report a Fatality or Severe Injury Web page.
