Due largely to the injury and illness reporting requirements imposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), workers can feel a little safer when earning their salaries. On-the-job incidents — referred to as OSHA reportable events — declined to an all-time low of 2.7 per 100 employees in 2022. That stands in stark contrast to more than 10 percent injured during the 1970s.
While fewer incidents to hard-working people is cause for optimism, this information would not be possible without diligent companies following the sometimes stringent OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping and reporting requirements. The procedures, forms, and resources required to track and report workplace circumstances can tax a business’s resources. Hopefully, the following information about OSHA injury reporting requirements will prove useful.
A qualifying OSHA reportable event includes any significant injury or fatality that occurred while an employee was performing their job, on the clock, or even visiting the site or facility. The list of injuries includes the following.
It’s important to keep in mind that not all injuries need to be reported. Outpatient treatment at an emergency room or urgent care facility does not typically qualify as a noteworthy illness or injury.
Any injury or job-related ailment that causes an employee to miss more than one day of work or transition to a different position must be reported. Organizations with more than 100 employees in hazardous industries may also be tasked with submitting annual injury and illness tracking logs.
The guidelines for OSHA injury and illness reporting are crystal clear regarding who is responsible for filing the appropriate forms or informing the agency in a timely manner. The reporting responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of an entity that directly supervises a worker. OSHA expects you to report fatalities within 8 hours. If someone sustains a qualifying injury or illness, the company has 24 hours to call the nearest OSHA field office or 24-hour hotline.
An OSHA 300 log is the compilation of reportable events that occurred throughout the previous year. The log calls for a detailed reporting of each individual incident. These are items employers must keep a running file on in order to input them into the OSHA 300 log that applies to their organization.
The log also calls for classifying work-related injuries and illnesses, including notes about their scope and seriousness. Failing to track in-house injury and illness data and file an OSHA 300 log by March 2 for the previous calendar year may result in a fine.
Companies with 10 or more employees must adhere to the OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping and reporting requirements. Small businesses with fewer staff members typically do not have to file annual paperwork with OSHA. Industries that are deemed low-risk may enjoy a partial exemption. Examples may include retail outlets, law offices, financial services, and a variety of others. The exemption does not apply to reporting individual incidents, and OSHA can remove a partial exemption at any juncture.
One of the pitfalls that land employers in hot water with OSHA involves workers not reporting injuries or illnesses. A valued employee may think they are not unnecessarily burdening supervisors and management teams by getting overnight treatment on a weekend and, perhaps, calling out sick on Monday. If OSHA discovers an otherwise conscientious crew member suffered an injury, the business could be held accountable.
At Southeast Personnel Leasing Inc., we work diligently with companies to collect workplace injury and illness data. As a professional employer organization, we provide OSHA reports to assist your business with meeting its regulatory requirements and remaining in compliance. If your business would benefit from assistance with these and other administrative tasks, contact SPLI today, and let’s get the process started.
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