Within eight hours after the death of any employee from a work-related incident, or inpatient hospitalization of three or more employees as a result of a work-related incident, the employer of any employees so affected must orally report the fatality/multiple hospitalization by telephone or in person to the area office of OSHA (or OSHA’s toll-free central telephone number, or the relevant state office). Do not neglect fatalities that may have occurred several days (or even much longer) after the injury-causing or illness-causing incident. Note that the multiple hospitalization scenario(sometimes called “catastrophe”) relates to one incident, such as an explosion, fire, vapor exposure, structure or storage collapse, etc. It does not relate to hospitalization totals from unrelated incidents.

There is one more injury reporting requirement that is generally overlooked. Under the mechanical power press standards, the employer is obligated to report to the OSHA national office (or the state equivalent) any point of operation injury, within 30 days of the occurrence of that injury. The standard only relates to mechanical power-presses – not other types of presses.