{"id":331,"date":"2016-01-18T08:30:28","date_gmt":"2016-01-18T13:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oshadefensereport.com\/?p=331"},"modified":"2026-03-16T19:15:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T19:15:45","slug":"oshas-web-portal-for-fatality-and-injury-reporting-goes-live-but-use-it-with-caution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.connmaciel.com\/osha-defense-report\/oshas-web-portal-for-fatality-and-injury-reporting-goes-live-but-use-it-with-caution\/","title":{"rendered":"OSHA\u2019s Web Portal for Fatality and Injury Reporting Goes Live \u2013 But Use It with Caution"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Eric J. Conn<\/a>, Chair of Conn Maciel Carey’s OSHA Practice<\/a><\/p>\n

In addition to employers\u2019 longstanding obligation to report to OSHA all work-related fatalities within 8 hours, as of January 1, 2015, all employers were required to also begin reporting to OSHA within 24 hours, all work-related in-patient hospitalizations (of just a single employee), amputations and losses of an eye . OSHA is publishing the details about these reported injuries online.<\/p>\n

\"Reporting<\/a><\/p>\n

We have written extensively about OSHA\u2019s new reporting rule, including articles that:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Explain the requirements of the new rule<\/a>;<\/li>\n
  2. Describe what happens after injuries are reported<\/a> to OSHA; and<\/li>\n
  3. Dissect the nuances of the amputation component<\/a> of the rule.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Under the new reporting rule, employers have three ways to perfect the notification to OSHA. As has been compliant for year, employers may call the nearest OSHA Area Office or call OSHA’s toll-free reporting hotline – 800-321-OSHA.<\/p>\n

    The new rule also introduced a new reporting methodology \u2013 a web portal for online fatality and injury reporting<\/a>. The web portal, however, was under development until just a couple of weeks ago.<\/p>\n

    OSHA was very excited to \"Reporting<\/a>introduce the new web portal because of the \u201csuccess\u201d of OSHA\u2019s other recent experiment with web portal reporting \u2013 whistleblower retaliation complaints. A couple of years ago, OSHA introduced a convenient web portal for employees to report retaliation complaints, and the number of complaints filed by employees surged.<\/p>\n

    OSHA believes injuries and fatalities are being under-reported by employers, so OSHA supposed that could be addressed by this more convenient technology.<\/p>\n

    While the online reporting portal<\/a> is an easy method for reporting, and it is available 24\/7, it does have major drawbacks. Employers should be wary of using the web portal to report incidents for several reasons. First, the report by web portal appears to require more information than what OSHA requires when reports are made by telephone. Specifically, the web portal has mandatory blanks to be completed for the following information:<\/p>\n