OSHA Plans to Revise Injury and Illness Reporting Requirements

On June 22, 2011, OSHA published a proposed rule revising the injury and illness reporting requirements for employers. Currently, employers must report to OSHA, within eight hours, all work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations of three or more employees. Under OSHA’s expanded proposed rule, employers would be required to report to OSHA, within eight hours, all work-related amputations as well as fatalities, and all work-related in-patient hospitalizations regardless of how many employees go to the hospital.

Additionally, the proposed rule revises the list of employers currently exempt from certain recordkeeping obligations. The agency is proposing to base the list on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), rather than the current Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. The revisions will take some employers out of the exemption while bringing others within the exemption. Written comments on the proposed rule are due by September 20, 2011.