OSHA Implements New Weekly Fatality Report

Released December 7, 2009

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) has added a new section on its website to draw attention to employee fatalities and catastrophes. Under this new directive, facilities that have experienced a work-related death or the in-patient hospitalization of three or more employees as a result of a work-related incident must report the situation to the OSHA Area office within eight hours.

OSHA is posting weekly reports which include the name of the facility, city and state in which it is located and brief explanation of the death or injury. OSHA hopes employers use the information in safety training to show workers the real-life consequences of various workplace hazards. These reports will remain posted for a three-month period and will then be archived within the OSHA web site.

For information about reporting these incidents, or to view the reports, visit www.osha.gov/dep/fatcat/dep_fatcat.html.