026 – What Happens When a Company Doesn’t Report an Injury?
Join safety experts Michael and Rick for Episode 26 of the OSHA Oops Podcast as they discuss one company who failed to report a temporary employee who fell from a ladder. And how much they were cited due to their mistake.
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The Importance of Accident Reporting In The Workplace
Reporting work-related injuries is important for several reasons. Most importantly, it helps to ensure that injured workers receive the medical treatment they need in a timely manner. Next, it gives your team the information they need to plan and prevent similar accidents in the future. Finally, it allows employers to avoid significant fines if they are found to have violated OSHA regulations.
According to the OSHA report, this company failed to notify OSHA within eight hours of an employee falling from a ladder and suffering a serious injury. This is a serious violation of OSHA regulations, and resulted in the company being fined $5k. This fine could have easily been avoided with proper injury reporting.
When and How to Report a Serious Workplace Injury
Employers must immediately report serious injury, illness, or death of an employee that occurs in a place of employment or in connection with any employment. This is to be reported by telephone to the nearest District Office of the Division.
“Immediately” means as soon as practically possible, but no longer than eight hours after the employer knows, or with diligent inquiry would have known, about the death or serious injury or illness. If the employer can prove that urgent circumstances exist, the time frame for the report may be made no longer than twenty-four hours.
Below is a small clip from our Management: Reporting Work Related Injury and Illness safety lesson. For access to the full lesson, and our entire safety lesson library, give us a call at 800-734-3574.
Reportable Information
- Time and date of accident.
- Employer’s name, address, and telephone number.
- Name and job title, or badge number of the person reporting the accident
- Address of site of accident or event
- Name of person to contact at site of accident
- Name and address of injured employee(s)
- Nature of injury
- Location where injured employee(s) was (were) moved to
- List and identity of other law enforcement agencies present at the site of accident
- Description of accident and whether the accident scene has been altered
If your company needs safety training, along with OSHA defense and many other safety services, please call 1-800-734-3574 for more details.
