518-373-4111
On January 1st, a final rule from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will take effect that will change the 2015 OSHA reporting requirements for injury and illness. This new rule adds to the number of situations in which employers must notify OSHA of injuries and illnesses as well as modifying the list of low-hazard industries that are exempt from the annual recordkeeping requirements for illness and injuries.
Reporting Requirements
Under current requirements, employers must notify OSHA in the case of a work-related fatality or if three or more employees were hospitalized. The new rule will require employers to report single work-related hospitalizations and amputations (or loss of an eye) within 24 hours — while still requiring reporting of fatalities within eight hours.
Recordkeeping Requirements
Employers are required under both the old and the new rules to maintain logs of workplace injuries and illnesses and post a summary of that log in the workplace from February 1 to April 30 of each year, unless they meet the exemption criteria. The new rule maintains the exemption from routine recordkeeping for all employers with 10 or fewer employees, but significantly modifies the list of low-hazard industries that are exempt for any number of employees. Certain industries that used to be exempt will now have to complete the illness and injury logs, while other industries that used to be required to comply with this recordkeeping requirement will now be exempt. For example, colleges and universities, clothing stores, and full service restaurants are now exempt while bakeries, liquor stores, and museums will now need to comply with the recordkeeping requirements.
While these revisions only govern workplaces subject to federal OSHA requirements, OSHA has encouraged states with OSHA-approved state plans to implement these revisions by January 1, 2015 as well.
For more information, contact GTM at (518) 373-4111.
