OSHA: Over 10K severe worker injuries reported in first year of OSHA requirement
In the first year of a new reporting requirement, employers notified the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of more than 10,000 severe work-related injuries.
Beginning January 2015, employers are 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 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.
“In case after case, the prompt reporting of worker injuries has created opportunities for us to work with employers we wouldn’t have had contact with otherwise,” says David Michaels, OSHA assistant secretary of labor. “The result is safer workplaces for thousands of workers.”
OSHA found some employers exceeded the agency’s requirements to protect workers from future incidents. However, OSHA says one manufacturer tried to hide an entire room full of machinery from OSHA inspectors.
The full report is available here.
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