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OSHA Revises Workplace Injury and     Illness Reporting Rule.

Effective January 1, 2002 new rules issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will change the way nearly 1.3 million worksites will record their employees' injuries and illnesses.

The new rules are meant to simplify the record keeping process and provide clearer regulatory requirements, which is intended to make compliance easier for employers. The requirements for injury / illness record keeping was implemented so that employers would become more aware of workplace hazards by keeping track of incidents and their causes, and then be able to remedy them more effectively.

The new rules issued by OSHA include new definitions of medical treatment, first aid, and restricted work. They also update the OSHA forms used by employers to list and detail workplace injuries and illnesses. The rules and instructions on using the forms has been clarified and provide a single set of recording criteria and allow employers more freedom to use computers.

Recording Criteria

OSHA requires employers to record only injuries and illnesses that are work-related. In general, injuries and illnesses are considered work-related if events or exposures at work either caused or contributed to the condition or significantly aggravated a pre- existing injury or illness.

An injury or illness must be recorded for OSHA if it involves death, loss of consciousness, days away from work, medical treatment other than first aid, transfer to another job, restriction of work or motion, or diagnosis of a significant injury or illness by a licensed health care professional. Also, employers must record all needlestick and other injuries involving contamination by another person's blood or other bodily fluid.

Employee Participation

The new rules require that the record keeping process must be interactive. Employers must establish how employees will report injuries, convey this information to each employee and provide employees with access to the records.

Which Employees Injuries Must Be Recorded

All employees on the pay-roll are covered by the regulations. In addition, employers must record the injuries and illnesses of those not on the pay-roll if they are supervised on a daily basis.

Employers who had more than ten employees at any time during the previous calendar year must keep these OSHA injury/illness records, unless they are part of a designated low hazard industry.

Note: every employer, without exception, must report to OSHA within eight hours any workplace incident that results in a fatality or the hospitalization of three or more employees. This report must be made either by contacting the OSHA toll free number at 800-321-6742 or in person to the OSHA area office nearest the incident.

For More Information

For more information on this topic you can visit the OSHA Website at: http://www.osha-slc.gov/FedReg_osha_data/FED19960202.html.

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