The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has released its findings on the severe injury reporting process the agency put in place effective Jan. 1, 2015. Under this system, employers are required to notify OSHA of work-related hospitalizations, amputations and losses of an eye within 24 hours of the event taking place.
Based on data submitted to OSHA, there were over 7,600 hospitalizations and more than 2,600 amputations in 2015. This data only includes information from states that are federal OSHA states, and it does not include reports from businesses in states with their own safety and health programs.
Along with the requirements to report severe injuries, OSHA is also giving businesses more control over determining how accidents happened and how to prevent them in the future. According to OSHA, this new system has provided excellent results, and many employers are going above and beyond what is required by law to prevent future injuries. This results in OSHA having to spend less time and effort to do workplace inspections.
There are a variety of ways that people can suffer a workplace injury. Along with a failure to observe proper safety procedures, accidents can be the result of an improper use of machinery or a defective piece of equipment. Most employers are required to have workers’ compensation insurance coverage, and benefits provided thereunder can include partial wage replacement when a worker is recovering as well as the furnishing of medical care and treatment. In some cases, a separate lawsuit can be filed if a third party other than the employer is responsible for the injury. Workers in this position may want to discuss their options with an attorney.