OSHA releases final rule on recordkeeping requirements

Washington – Beginning next year, employers will be required to report all in-patient hospitalizations and amputations to OSHA, under a final rule released Sept. 11.

Currently, employers must report to OSHA within eight hours any work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations of three or more employees. The new rule retains the reporting of fatalities, but adds requirements for employers to report to OSHA within 24 hours all in-patient hospitalizations, amputations and loss of an eye. This is a slight change from the proposed rule, which required in-patient hospitalizations to be reported within eight hours and did not include loss of an eye.

The final rule also updates OSHA’s list of industries that are partially exempt from injury and illness recordkeeping requirements. The update entails OSHA switching from the industry classification system it currently uses to determine exempt industries to the newer and more broadly used North American Industry Classification System.

At press time, the rule had not been formally published in the Federal Register, but OSHA said the rule would go into effect Jan. 1.