What To Expect When Reporting to OSHA

As we’ve reported, OSHA has new reporting requirements for when an employer must notify OSHA of an injury. The expansion of the reporting requirements has led to a very obvious increase in the number of reports that OSHA is receiving via their various methods. A recent memo outlines what the call taker should ask the reporting employer during in the process of taking the report.

This Jackson Lewis Article outlines the various information that should be collected during that initial report. The article goes on to explain some of how to handle those questions.

Previously, only the most basic information was required such as the employer’s name, the employee’s name, the type of injury (fatality, etc.), address, etc. Following the internal memorandum that is just being circulated, the call taker should ask a number of other questions such as what the employee was doing immediately before being injured, have there been any close calls similar to this, what has been done to fix the problem so that others don’t get hurt.

Some of these questions may not be able to be answered at the time of the call which is perfectly fine. Do the best you can but understand that whatever is told to OSHA (truth or partial truth as you know it) can be used against you in the future. Please take a few minutes to read the short article linked to above for more information and advice on how to handle this expanded reporting requirement.

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