Beginning January 1, 2015, OSHA will begin enforcing new rules and requirements according to a recent article in Construction Equipment Guide. This new rule applies to companies that fall under Federal OSHA jurisdiction. (Do you know if your company falls under this category?)
This rule change stems from a Bureau of Labor Statistics report that 4,405 people were killed on the job in 2013. Under this new rule “employers will be required to notify OSHA of work-related fatalities within eight hours, and work-related in-patient hospitalizations, amputations or losses of an eye within 24 hours. Previously, OSHA's regulations required an employer to report only work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations of three or more employees. Reporting single hospitalizations, amputations or loss of an eye was not required under the previous rule.”
Even employers who are typically exempt from reporting workplace injuries will be required to comply with this new ruling.
Additionally, OSHA has updated the list of industries that are required to routinely keep and complete injury and illness records. In the past, those that were exempt based on their Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code, they are now based on how relatively low their reported injury and illnesses are. Those employers with fewer than 11 employees will still be exempt.