New OSHA Rules

OSHA issued final regulations for its new record keeping rules. The new rules relate to what injuries need to be reported and when, as well as the new exemptions for some low risk employers.

Employers now have to report the following work-related events to OHSA:

• All fatalities

• All inpatient hospitalizations of one or more employees

• All amputations

• All losses of an eye

Fatalities must be reported within eight hours and the others must be reported within 24 hours. All employers must report these incidents to OSHA including those employers who are exempt from routine record keeping.

Employers will have to report the establishment name, location of work related incident, time of work related incident, type of reportable event, number of employees who suffered the event, names of employees, contact person and number, and brief description of event.

OSHA also created a list of industries who will be partially exempt from record keeping. These exempt employers are listed in a NAICS index (click here to see the list) and include such industries as colleges, accounting services, computer design, insurance carriers, etc. These exempt organizations are not required to keep OSHA injury and illness records unless asked to do so by OSHA.

Employers with fewer than ten employees are also exempt from record keeping.

Kelly Schoening is a Partner in the law firm of Dressman Benzinger LaVelle, with offices in Cincinnati, Ohio, Crestview Hills, Kentucky, and Louisville, Kentucky.