MOSH Instruction 02-4 - MOSH Recordkeeping Policy and Procedures Manual Chapter 5. Frequently Asked Questions - Maryland Occupational Safety and Health (MOSH)

The following Questions and Answers have been prepared to address enforcement issues concerning the new Recordkeeping Rule.

I. General Guidance.

Question 1. Why is OSHA changing the 1904 regulation?
OSHA is revising the rule to collect better information about the incidence of occupa­tional injuries and illnesses, improve employee awareness and involvement in the recording and reporting of job-related injuries and illnesses, simplify the injury and illness recordkeeping system for employers, and permit increased use of computers and telecommunications technology.

Question 2. What recordkeeping actions will take place on January 1, 2002?
A number of actions will take place on January 1, 2002, including:
The revised 29 CFR Part 1904, entitled Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, will be in effect.
Three new recordkeeping forms will come into use:

• OSHA Form 300, Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses
• OSHA Form 300A, Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses
• (The 300 and 300A forms will replace the former OSHA Form 200, Log and Summary of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses)
• OSHA Form 301, Injury and Illness Incident Report

(The 301 form will replace the former OSHA Form 101, Supplementary Record of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses)
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)/OSHA publications: Recordkeeping Guidelines for Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, 1986 and A Brief Guide to Recordkeeping Requirements for Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, 1986 will be withdrawn.
All letters of interpretation regarding the former rule's injury and illness recordkeeping requirements will be withdrawn and removed from the OSHA CD-ROM and put into the OSHA Archive Set.

Question 3. How can I get copies of the new forms?
Copies of the forms can be obtained on OSHA's web site at http://www.osha.gov or from the MOSH Office of Training and Education at (410) 880-4970 extension 348.

Question 4. Can I start using a 300 Log prior to January 1, 2002?
No. You must continue to keep a 200 Log for the remainder of 2001. Employers may not start using a 300 Log until January 1, 2002, because this is the effective date of the new regulation.

Question 5. Can I compare injury and illness rates generated from my OSHA form 300, and the new regulation, to injury and illness rates generated from my OSHA 200 Log under the old rule (i.e., compare 2001 data with 2002 data)?
The new recordkeeping rule changes some of the criteria used to determine which injuries and illnesses will be entered into the records and how they will be entered. Therefore, employers should use reasonable caution when comparing data produced under the old 1904 regulation with data produced under the new rule.

Question 6. Are the recordkeeping requirements the same in all of the States?
The States operating OSHA-approved State Plans must adopt occupational injury and illness recording and reporting requirements that are substantially identical to the requirements in Part 1904 and which should also be in effect on January 1, 2002. For more information, see the discussion under "States Requirements," 1904.37.

II. Section 1904.0 B Purpose.

Question 0-1. Why are employers required to keep records of work-related injuries and illnesses?
The OSH Act of 1970 requires the Secretary of Labor to produce regulations that require employers to keep records of occupational deaths, injuries, and illnesses. The records are used for several purposes.
Injury and illness statistics are used by OSHA. OSHA collects data through the OSHA Data Initiative (ODI) to help direct its programs and measure its own performance. Inspectors also use the data during inspections to help direct their efforts to the hazards that are hurting workers.
The records are also used by employers and employees to implement safety and health programs at individual workplaces. Analysis of the data is a widely recognized method for discovering workplace safety and health problems and for tracking progress in solving those problems.
The records provide the base data for the BLS Annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, the Nation's primary source of occupational injury and illness data.

Question 0-2. What is the effect of workers' compensation reports on the OSHA records?
The purpose section of the rule includes a note to make it clear that recording an injury or illness neither affects a person's entitlement to workers' compensation nor proves a violation of an OSHA rule. The rules for compensability under workers' compensation differ from state to state and do not have any effect on whether or not a case needs to be recorded on the OSHA 300 Log. Many cases will be OSHA recordable and compensable under workers' compensation. However, some cases will be compensable but not OSHA recordable, and some cases will be OSHA recordable but not compensable under workers' compensation.

III. Section 1904.2 -- Partial Exemption for Establishments in Certain Industries.

Question 2-1. How can I get help to find my SIC Code and determine if I'm partially exempt from the recordkeeping rule?
You can access the statistics section of OSHA's internet home page. Go to the website and choose SIC Manual and follow the directions. If you still cannot determine your SIC code, you can call an OSHA area office, or, if you are in a state with an OSHA-approved state plan, call your State Plan office. OSHA Office Directory

Question 2-2. Do States with OSHA-approved State plans have the same industry exemptions as Federal OSHA?
States with OSHA-approved plans may require employers to keep records for the State, even though those employers are within an industry exempted by the Federal rule.

IV. Section 1904.4 B Recording Criteria.

Question 4-1. Does an employee report of an injury or illness establish the existence of the injury or illness for recordkeeping purposes?
No. In determining whether a case is recordable, the employer must first decide whether an injury or illness, as defined by the rule, has occurred. If the employer is uncertain about whether an injury or illness has occurred, the employer may refer the employee to a physician or other health care professional for evaluation and may consider the health care professional's opinion in determining whether an injury or illness exists. [Note: If a physician or other licensed health care professional diagnoses a significant injury or illness within the meaning of '1904.7(b)(7) and the employer determines that the case is work-related, the case must be recorded.]

V. Section 1904.5 B Determination of Work-Relatedness.

Question 5-1. If a maintenance employee is cleaning the parking lot or an access road and is injured as a result, is the case work-related?
Yes, the case is work-related because the employee is injured as a result of conducting company business in the work environment. If the injury meets the general recording criteria of Section 1904.7 (death, days away, etc.), the case must be recorded.

Question 5-2. Are cases of workplace violence considered work-related under the new Recordkeeping rule?
The Recordkeeping rule contains no general exception, for purposes of determining work-relationship, for cases involving acts of violence in the work environment. How­ever, some cases involving violent acts might be included within one of the exceptions listed in section 1904.5(b)(2). For example, if an employee arrives at work early to use a company conference room for a civic club meeting and is injured by some violent act, the case would not be work-related under the exception in section 1904.5(b)(2)(v).

Question 5-3. What activities are considered "personal grooming" for purposes of the exception to the geographic presumption of work-relatedness in section 1904.5(b)(2)(vi)?
Personal grooming activities are activities directly related to personal hygiene, such as combing and drying hair, brushing teeth, clipping fingernails and the like. Bathing or showering at the workplace when necessary because of an exposure to a substance at work is not within the personal grooming exception in section 1904.5(b)(2)(vi). Thus, if an employee slips and falls while showering at work to remove a contaminant to which he has been exposed at work, and sustains an injury that meets one of the general recording criteria listed in section 1904.7(b)(1), the case is recordable.

Question 5-4. What are "assigned working hours" for purposes of the exception to the geographic presumption in section 1904.5(b)(2)(v)?
"Assigned working hours," for purposes of section 1904.5(b)(2)(v), means those hours the employee is actually expected to work, including overtime.

Question 5-5. What are "personal tasks" for purposes of the exception to the geographic presumption in section 1904.5(b)(2)(v)?
"Personal tasks" for purposes of section 1904.5(b)(2)(v) are tasks that are unrelated to the employee's job. For example, if an employee uses a company break area to work on his child's science project, he is engaged in a personal task.

Question 5-6. If an employee stays at work after normal work hours to prepare for the next day's tasks and is injured, is the case work-related? For example, if an employee stays after work to prepare air-sampling pumps and is injured, is the case work-related?
A case is work-related any time an event or exposure in the work environment either causes or contributes to an injury or illness or significantly aggravates a pre-existing injury or illness, unless one of the exceptions in section 1904.5(b)(2) applies. The work environment includes the establishment and other locations where one or more employees are working or are present as a condition of their employment. The case in question would be work-related if the employee was injured as a result of an event or exposure at work, regardless of whether the injury occurred after normal work hours.

Question 5-7. If an employee voluntarily takes work home and is injured while working at home, is the case recordable?
No. Injuries and illnesses occurring in the home environment are only considered work-related if the employee is being paid or compensated for working at home and the injury or illness is directly related to the performance of the work rather than to the general home environment.

Question 5-8. If an employee's pre-existing medical condition causes an incident which results in a subsequent injury, is the case work-related? For example, if an employee suffers an epileptic seizure, falls, and breaks his arm, is the case covered by the exception in section 1904.5(b)(2)(ii)?
Neither the seizures nor the broken arm are recordable. Injuries and illnesses that result solely from non-work-related events or exposures are not recordable under the exception in section 1904.5(b)(2)(ii). Epileptic seizures are a symptom of a disease of non-occupational origin, and the fact that they occur at work does not make them work-related. Because epileptic seizures are not work-related, injuries resulting solely from the seizures, such as the broken arm in the case in question, are not recordable.

Question 5-9. This question involves the following sequence of events: Employee A drives to work, parks her car in the company parking lot and is walking across the lot when she is struck by a car driven by employee B, who is commuting to work. Both employees are seriously injured in the accident. Is either case work-related?
Neither employee's injuries are recordable. While the employee parking lot is part of the work environment under section 1904.5, injuries occurring there are not work-related if they meet the exception in section 1904.5(b)(2)(vii). Section 1904.5(b)(2)(vii) excepts injuries caused by motor vehicle accidents occurring on the company parking lot while the employee is commuting to and from work. In the case in question, both employees' injuries resulted from a motor vehicle accident in the company parking lot while the employees were commuting. Accordingly, the exception applies.

VI. Section 1904.6 B Determination of New Cases.

Question 6-1. How is an employer to determine whether an employee has "recovered completely" from a previous injury or illness such that a later injury or illness of the same type affecting the same part of the body resulting from an event or exposure at work is a "new case" under section 1904.6(a)(2)? If an employee's signs and symptoms disappear for a day and then resurface the next day, should the employer conclude that the later signs and symptoms represent a new case?
An employee has "recovered completely" from a previous injury or illness, for purposes of section 1904.6(a)(2), when he or she is fully healed or cured. The employer must use his best judgment based on factors such as the passage of time since the symptoms last occurred and the physical appearance of the affected part of the body. If the signs and symptoms of a previous injury disappear for a day only to reappear the following day, that is strong evidence the injury has not properly healed. The employer may, but is not required to, consult a physician or other licensed health care provider (PLHCP). Where the employer does consult a PLHCP to determine whether an employee has recovered completely from a prior injury or illness, it must follow the PLHCP's recommendation. In the event the employer receives recommendations from two or more PLHCPs, the employer may decide which recommendation is the most authoritative and record the case based on that recommendation.

VII. Section 1904.7 B General Recording Criteria.

Question 7-1. The old rule required the recording of all occupational illnesses, regardless of severity. For example, a work-related skin rash was recorded even if it didn't result in medical treatment. Does the rule still capture these minor illness cases?
No. Under the new rule, injuries and illnesses are recorded using the same criteria. As a result, some minor illness cases are no longer recordable. For example, a case of work-related skin rash is now recorded only if it results in days away from work, restricted work, transfer to another job, or medical treatment beyond first aid.

Question 7-2. Does the size or degree of a burn determine recordability?
No, the size or degree of a work-related burn does not determine recordability. If a work-related first, second, or third degree burn results in one or more of the outcomes in section 1904.7 (days away, work restrictions, medical treatment, etc.), the case must be recorded.

Question 7-3. If an employee dies during surgery made necessary by a work-related injury or illness, is the case recordable? What if the surgery occurs weeks or months after the date of the injury or illness?
If an employee dies as a result of surgery or other complications following a work-related injury or illness, the case is recordable. If the underlying injury or illness was recorded prior to the employee's death, the employer must update the Log by lining out informa­tion on less severe outcomes, e.g., days away from work or restricted work, and checking the column indicating death.

Question 7-4. An employee hurts his or her left arm and is told by the doctor not to use the left arm for one week. The employee is able to perform all of his or her routine job functions using only the right arm (though at a slower pace and the employee is never required to use both arms to perform his or her job functions). Would this be considered restricted work?
No. If the employee is able to perform all of his or her routine job functions (activities the employee regularly performs at least once per week), the case does not involve restricted work. Loss of productivity is not considered restricted work.

Question 7-5. Are surgical glues used to treat lacerations considered first aid?
No, surgical glue is a wound closing device. All wound closing devices except for butterfly and steri strips are by definition "medical treatment," because they are not included on the first aid list.

Question 7-6. Item N on the first aid list is "drinking fluids for relief of heat stress." Does this include administering intravenous (IV) fluids?
No. Intravenous administration­ of fluids to treat work-related heat stress is medical treatment.

Question 7-7. Is the use of a rigid finger guard considered first aid?
Yes, the use of finger guards is always first aid.

Question 7-8. For medications such as Ibuprofen that are available in both prescription and non-prescription form, what is considered to be prescription strength? How is an employer to determine whether a non-prescription medication has been recommended at prescription strength for purposes of section 1904.7(b)(5)(i)(C)(ii)(A)?
The prescription strength of such medications is determined by the measured quantity of the theraputic agent to be taken at one time, i.e., a single dose. The single dosages that are considered prescription strength for four common over-the-counter drugs are:

• Ibuprofen (such as Advil^TM) - Greater than 467 mg
• Diphenhydramine (such as Benadryl^TM) - Greater than 50 mg
• Naproxen Sodium (such as Aleve^TM) - Greater than 220 mg
• Ketoprofen (such as Orudus KT^TM) - Greater than 25mg

To determine the prescription-strength dosages for other drugs that are available in prescription and non-prescription formulations, the employer should contact OSHA, the United States Food and Drug Administration, their local pharmacist or their physician.

Question 7-9. If an employee who sustains a work-related injury requiring days away from work is terminated for drug use based on the results of a post-accident drug test, how is the case recorded? May the employer stop the day count upon termination of the employee for drug use under section 1904.7(b)(3) (vii)?
Under section 1904.7(b)(3)(vii), the employer may stop counting days away from work if an employee who is away from work because of an injury or illness leaves the company for some reason unrelated to the injury or illness, such as retirement or a plant closing. However, when the employer conducts a drug test based on the occurrence of an accident resulting in an injury at work and subsequently terminates the injured employee, the termination is related to the injury. Therefore, the employer must estimate the number of days that the employee would have been away from work due to the injury and enter that number on the 300 Log.

Question 7-10. Once an employer has recorded a case involving days away from work, restricted work or medical treatment and the employee has returned to his regular work or has received the course of recommended medical treatment, is it permissible for the employer to delete the Log entry based on a physician's recommendation, made during a year-end review of the Log, that the days away from work, work restriction or medical treatment were not necessary?
The employer must make an initial decision about the need for days away from work, a work restriction, or medical treatment based on the information available, including any recommendation by a physician or other licensed health care professional. Where the employer receives contemporaneous recommendations from two or more physicians or other licensed health care professionals about the need for days away, a work restriction, or medical treatment, the employer may decide which recommendation is the most authoritative and record the case based on that recommendation. Once the days away from work or work restriction have occurred or medical treatment has been given, however, the employer may not delete the Log entry because of a physician's recommendation, based on a year-end review of the Log, that the days away, restriction or treatment were unnecessary.

Question 7-11. Section 1904.7(b)(5)(ii) of the rule defines first aid, in part, as "removing splinters or foreign material from areas other than the eye by irrigation, tweezers, cotton swabs or other simple means." What are "other simple means" of removing splinters that are considered first aid?
"Other simple means" of removing splinters, for purposes of the first-aid definition, means methods that are reasonably comparable to the listed methods. Using needles, pins or small tools to extract splinters would generally be included.
Question 7-12. How long must a modification to a job last before it can be considered a permanent modification under section 1904.7(b)(4)(xi)? 
Section 1904.7(b)(4)(xi) of the rule allows an employer to stop counting days of restricted work or transfer to another job if the restriction or transfer is made permanent. A permanent restriction or transfer is one that is expected to last for the remainder of the employee's career. Where the restriction or transfer is determined to be permanent at the time it is ordered, the employer must count at least one day of the restriction or transfer on the Log. If the employee whose work is restricted or who is transferred to another job is expected to return to his or her former job duties at a later date, the restriction or transfer is considered temporary rather than permanent.

Question 7-13. If an employee loses his arm in a work-related accident and can never return to his job, how is the case recorded? Is the day count capped at 180 days?
If an employee never returns to work following a work-related injury, the employer must check the "days away from work" column, and enter an estimate of the number of days the employee would have required to recuperate from the injury, up to180 days.

Question 7-14. If an employee who routinely works ten hours a day is restricted from working more than eight hours following a work-related injury, is the case recordable?
Generally, the employer must record any case in which an employee's work is restricted because of a work-related injury. A work restriction, as defined in section 1904.7(b)(4)(i)(A), occurs when the employer keeps the employee from performing one or more routine functions of the job, or from working the full workday the employee would otherwise have been scheduled to work. The case in question is recordable if the employee would have worked 10 hours had he or she not been injured.

Question 7-15. If an employee is exposed to chlorine or some other substance at work and oxygen is administered as a precautionary measure, is the case recordable?
If oxygen is administered as a purely precautionary measure to an employee who does not exhibit any symptoms of an injury or illness, the case is not recordable. If the employee exposed to a substance exhibits symptoms of an injury or illness, the administration of oxygen makes the case recordable.

Question 7-16. Is the employer subject to a citation for violating section 1904.7(b)(4) (viii) if an employee fails to follow a recommended work restriction?
Section 1904.7(b) (4)(viii) deals with the recordablility of cases in which a physician or other health care professional has recommended a work restriction. The section also states that the employer "should ensure that the employee complies with the [recom­mended] restriction." This language is purely advisory and does not impose an enforce­able duty upon employers to ensure that employees comply with the recom­mended restriction. [Note: In the absence of conflicting opinions from two or more health care professionals, the employer ordinarily must record the case if a health care professional recommends a work restriction involving the employee's routine job functions.]

VIII. Section 1904.8 B Recording Criteria for Needlestick and Sharps Injuries.
Question 8-1. Can you clarify the relationship between the OSHA recordkeeping require­ments and the requirements in the Bloodborne Pathogens standard to maintain a sharps injury log?
The OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Standard states: "The requirement to establish and maintain a sharps injury log shall apply to any employer who is required to maintain a log of occupational injuries and illnesses under 29 CFR 1904." Therefore, if an employer is exempted from the OSHA recordkeeping rule, the employer does not have to maintain a sharps log. For example, dentists' offices and doctors' offices are not required to keep a sharps log after January 1, 2002.

Question 8-2. Can I use the OSHA 300 Log to meet the Bloodborne Pathogen Standard's requirement for a sharps injury log?
Yes. You may use the 300 Log to meet the requirements of the sharps injury log provided you enter the type and brand of the device causing the sharps injury on the Log and you maintain your records in a way that segregates sharps injuries from other types of work-related injuries and illnesses, or allows sharps injuries to be easily separated.

IX. Section 1904.29 B Forms

Question 29-1. How do I determine whether or not a case is an occupational injury or one of the occupational illness categories in Section M of the OSHA 300 Log?
The instructions that accompany the OSHA 300 Log contain examples of occupational injuries and the various types of occupational illnesses listed on the Log. If the case you are dealing with is on one of those lists, then check that injury or illness category. If the case you are dealing with is not listed, then you may check the injury or illness category that you believe best fits the circumstances of the case.

Question 29-2. Does the employer decide if an injury or illness is a privacy concern case?
Yes. The employer must decide if a case is a privacy concern case, using 1904.29(b)(7), which lists the six types of injuries and illnesses the employer must consider privacy concern cases. If the case meets any of these criteria, the employer must consider it a privacy concern case. This is a complete list of all injury and illnesses considered privacy concern cases.

Question 29-3. Under paragraph 1904.29(b)(9), the employer may use some discretion in describing a privacy concern case on the log so the employee cannot be identified. Can the employer also leave off the job title, date, or where the event occurred?
Yes. OSHA believes that this would be an unusual circumstance and that leaving this information off the log will rarely be needed. However, if the employer has reason to believe that the employee's name can be identified through this information, these fields can be left blank.

Question 29-4. May employers attach missing information to their accident investigation or workers' compensation forms to make them an acceptable substitute form for the OSHA 301 for recordkeeping purposes?
Yes, the employer may use a workers' compensation form or other form that does not contain all the required information, provided the form is supplemented to contain the missing information and the supplemented form is as readable and understandable as the OSHA 301 form and is completed using the same instructions as the OSHA 301 form.
Question 29-5. If an employee reports an injury or illness and receives medical treatment this year, but states that the symptoms first arose at some unspecified date last year, on which year's log do I record the case?
Ordinarily, the case should be recorded on the Log for the year in which the injury or illness occurred. Where the date of injury or illness cannot be determined, the date the employee reported the symptoms or received treatment must be used. In the case in question, the injury or illness would be recorded on this year's Log because the employee cannot specify the date when the symptoms occurred.

X. Section 1904.31 B Covered Employees.

Question 31-1. How is the term "supervised" in section 1904.31 defined for the purpose of determining whether the host employer must record the work-related injuries and illnesses of employees obtained from a temporary help service?
The host employer must record the recordable injuries and illnesses of employees not on its payroll if it supervises them on a day-to-day basis. Day-to-day supervision occurs when "in addition to specifying the output, product or result to be accomplished by the person's work, the employer supervises the details, means, methods and processes by which the work is to be accomplished."

Question 31-2. If a temporary personnel agency sends its employees to work in an establishment that is not required to keep OSHA records, does the agency have to record the recordable injuries and illnesses of these employees?
A temporary personnel agency need not record injuries and illnesses of those employees that are supervised on a day-to-day basis by another employer. The temporary personnel agency must record the recordable injuries and illnesses of those employees it supervises on a day to day basis, even if these employees perform work for an employer who is not covered by the recordkeeping rule.

XI. Section 1904.32 B Annual Summary.

Question 32-1. How do I calculate the "total hours worked" on my annual summary when I have both hourly and temporary workers?
To calculate the total hours worked by all employees, include the hours worked by salaried, hourly, part-time and seasonal workers, as well as hours worked by other workers you supervise (e.g., workers supplied by a temporary help service). Do not include vacation, sick leave, holidays, or any other non-work time even if employees were paid for it. If your establishment keeps records of only the hours paid or if you have employees who are not paid by the hour, you must estimate the hours that the employees actually worked.

XII. Section 1904.35 B Employee Involvement

Question 35-1. How does an employer inform each employee on how he or she is to report an injury or illness?
Employers are required to let employees know how and when to report work-related injuries and illnesses. This means that the employer must set up a way for the employees to report work-related injuries and illnesses and tell its employees how to use it. The Recordkeeping rule does not specify how the employer must accomplish these objectives, so employers have flexibility to set up systems that are appropriate to their workplace. The size of the workforce, employee's language proficiency and literacy levels, the workplace culture, and other factors will deter­mine what will be effective for any particular workplace.

XIII. Section 1904.37 B State Recordkeeping Regulations.

Question 37-1. Do I have to follow these rules if my State has an OSHA-approved State Plan?
If your workplace is located in a State that operates an OSHA-approved State Plan, you must follow the regulations of the State. However, these States must adopt occupational injury and illness recording and reporting requirements that are substantially identical to the requirements in Part 1904. State Plan States must have the same requirements as Federal OSHA for determining which injuries and illnesses are recordable and how they are recorded.

Question 37-2. How may state regulations differ from the Federal requirements?
For Part 1904 provisions other than recording and reporting, State requirements may be more stringent than or supplemental to the Federal requirements. For example, a State Plan could require employers to keep records for the State, even though those employers have 10 or fewer employees (1904.1) or are within an industry exempted by the Federal rule. A State Plan could also require employers to keep additional supplementary injury and illness information, require employers to report fatality and multiple hospitalization incidents within a shorter time frame than Federal OSHA does (1904.39), require other types of incidents to be reported as they occur, require hearing loss to be recorded at a lower threshold level during CY 2002 (1904.10(c)), or impose other requirements.

Question 37-3. Are State and local government employers covered by this rule?
No, but they are covered under the equivalent State rule in States that operate OSHA-approved State Plans. State rules must cover these workplaces and require the recording and reporting of work-related injuries and illnesses.

Question 37-4. How can I find out if my State has an OSHA-approved plan?
The following States have OSHA-approved plans: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Virgin Islands, Washington, and Wyoming. Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York have plans that cover State and local government employees only.

XIV. Section 1904.39 B Reporting Fatalities & Multiple Hospitalization Incidents to OSHA Section 1904.39 B Reporting Fatalities & Multiple Hospitalization Incidents to OSHA.

Question 39-1. When a work-related heart attack occurs in the workplace and the employee dies one or more days later, how should the case be reported to OSHA?
The employer must orally report a work-related fatality by telephone or in person to the OSHA Area Office nearest to the site of the incident. The employer must report the fatality within eight hours of the employee's death in cases where the death occurs within 30 days of the incident. The employer need not report a death occurring more than 30 days after a work-related incident.

Question 39-2. What is considered a "construction work zone" for purposes of section 1904.39(b)(3)?
"Construction work zone" for purposes of '1904.39(b)(3) is an area of a street or highway where construction activities are taking place, and is typically marked by signs, channeling devices, barriers, pavement markings and/or work vehicles. The work zone extend from the first warning sign or rotating/strobe lights on a vehicle to the "END ROAD WORK" sign or the last temporary traffic control device.

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Updated March 12, 2010