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The revised severe injury rule announcement follows preliminary results from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2013 National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics, stated that 4,405 workers were killed on the job in 2013. “Workplace injuries and fatalities are absolutely preventable, and these new requirements will help OSHA focus its resources and hold employers accountable for preventing them.” 

Which Employers are Affected by the Changes?

All employers covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act, even those exempt from maintaining injury and illness records, are required to comply with OSHA’s new severe injury and illness reporting requirements. 

“Hospitalizations and amputations are sentinel events, indicating that serious hazards are likely to be present at a workplace and that an intervention is warranted to protect the other workers at the establishment,” said Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health.

Changes to Reporting Requirements: What needs to be reported and when?

The rule expands the list of severe work-related injuries that all covered employers must report to OSHA. The revised rule retains the current requirement to report all work-related fatalities within 8 hours and adds the requirement to report all work-related inpatient hospitalizations, amputations and all losses of an eye within 24 hours to OSHA.

Changes to Recordkeeping Requirements: Who is exempt from keeping records and newly required to keep records?

In addition to the new reporting requirements, OSHA has also updated the list of industries that, due to relatively low occupational injury and illness rates, are exempt from the requirement to routinely keep injury and illness records - click here to see the list.

The previous list of exempt industries was based on the old Standard Industrial Classification system and the new rule uses the North American Industry Classification System to classify establishments by industry. The new list is based on updated injury and illness data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Any employer with 10 or fewer employees, regardless of their industry classification, is exempt from the recordkeeping rule.

Click here to see the list of industries that are newly required to keep records.