On September 11, 2014, the US Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced a new rule that will go into effect on January 1, 2015. Whereas in the past, OSHA only required employers to report deaths and incidents that caused the in-patient hospitalization of three 3 or more employees, within eight 8 hours, the new rule will require employers to report all work-related hospitalizations, amputations, and/or loss of an eye within twenty-four 24 hours of the event causing the hospitalization, amputation or loss of eye regardless of the number of employees involved and/or whether a fatality occurs.
The new rule will also change the industries that are partially exempted from reporting workplace injury and illness data from those that have a DART (Days Away, Restriction, or Transfer rate) of 2.325 to those with a DART rate of 1.5.
The changes in reporting hospitalizations will dramatically increase the number of reportable events thus increasing the exposure of employers to OSHA inspections.
