OSHA Reports Results of First Year of Severe Injury Reporting Program

During the first year of its beefed-up Severe Injury Reporting Program, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) says there were 7,636 hospitalizations and 2,644 amputations reported by employers in the states covered by Federal OSHA. The 26 states operating their own OSH programs maintain their own reporting statistics. Under a rule that took effect on Jan. 1, 2015, employers are required to report to OSHA within 24 hours any work-related amputations, in-patient hospitalization or eye loss. Manufacturing (26 percent), construction (19 percent)) and transportation and warehousing (11 percent) reported the greatest number of hospitalizations in 2015.  Manufacturing (57 percent)) and construction (10 percent)) also had the greatest number of reported amputations. Though OSHA hailed the first year of the system as a "success," it also noted that as many as 50 percent of all injuries, or more, are not being reported as required. The agency warned:

They [employers] should know that, now that the requirement is in its second year, OSHA is more likely to cite for non-reporting. In addition, the agency recently increased the unadjusted penalty for not reporting a severe injury from $1,000 to as much as $7,000. And that amount will increase even more when higher penalty levels recently approved by Congress take effect.

In fact, the OSHA report (click to read) noted that  "one employer has been assessed enhanced penalties of $70,000 for willfully failing to report."