What employers need to know about reporting workplace fatalities, severe injuries

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

To Make a Report

• Call the nearest OSHA office.
• Call the OSHA 24-hour hotline at 1-800-321-6742 (OSHA).
• Report online
• Be prepared to supply: Business name; names of employees affected; location and time of the incident, brief description of the incident; contact person and phone number.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is required to report?
• If the area office is closed, may I report the incident by leaving a message on an answering machine or sending an email?
• How does OSHA define "in-patient hospitalization"?
• How does OSHA define amputation?
• Who should report a fatality or in-patient hospitalization of a temporary worker?
• What if the fatality, in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye does not occur during or right after the work-related incident?
• Under what circumstances am I not required to report an incident?
• What if I'm in a state not covered by federal OSHA?

Source: OSHA