Reporting injury/fatality to OSHA

Issue: Camille, a long-term employee, was tragically killed in a forklift accident at your company’s warehouse. Does this incident need to be reported to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)? If so, how can you make the report, and when is it due?

Answer: Yes, all employers are required to notify OSHA when an employee is killed on the job or suffers a work-related hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye.

• A fatality must be reported within eight hours.
• An in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or eye loss must be reported within 24 hours.

To make the report, employers may call the nearest OSHA office, call the agency's 24-hour hotline at 1-800-321-6742, or file the report online at https://www.osha.gov/ords/ser/serform.html.

Employers should be prepared to supply the following information:

• Business name;
• Names of employees affected;
• Location and time of the incident;
• Brief description of the incident;
• Contact person; and
• Phone number.

Source: Report a Fatality or Severe Injury, https://www.osha.gov/report; Occupational Safety and Health Administration

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