Currently employers are required to report work-related fatalities or the in-patient hospitalization of three or more workers within eight hours of an accident. In January, employers will still be required to report a fatality within eight hours of an accident. In addition, they will be required to report all in-patient hospitalizations, amputations and losses of an eye within 24 hours of a work-related accident.
“I want to make sure employers are aware of and understand the changes, so they are not caught off guard in the new year,” said Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry. “The department has posted a video on YouTube to help businesses understand the changes and the timeframe in which to report the incidents. The department’s free labor law posters have also been updated to reflect the changes.”
North Carolina and 21 other jurisdictions known as state plan states operate their own occupational safety and health programs. State plan states have some flexibility to customize safety and health programs that address workplace issues unique to their state as long as the state programs remain “as effective” as federal OSHA.
Revised recordkeeping and reporting rules were published in the Federal Register on Sept. 18, 2014. The final rule also updated the list of industries that due to relatively low occupational injury and illness rates are exempt from the requirement to routinely keep injury and illness records.