While OSHA’s COVID-19 Vaccination & Testing ETS is currently under a federal court stay, contractors must still remember OSHA’s current policy on recording and reporting COVID-19 cases. OSHA still requires that contractors have a COVID-19 Response Plan in place and continuously updated (as it has required for the last 20+ months). If your company has a hospitalization or fatality related or due to COVID-19, follow the steps outlined below.
Reporting & Recording COVID-19
You may report a fatality or in-patient hospitalization using any one of the following:
- Call the nearest OSHA office;
- Call the OSHA 24-hour hotline at 1-800-321-6742 (OSHA); or
- By electronic submission, report online.
Be prepared to supply: Business name; name(s) of employee(s) affected; location and time of the incident; brief description of the incident; and contact person and phone number so that OSHA may follow-up with you (unless you wish to make the report anonymously).
An employee has been hospitalized with a work-related, confirmed case of COVID-19. If the Emergency Temporary Standard for Healthcare does not apply, do I need to report this in-patient hospitalization to OSHA?
- Employers must report in-patient hospitalizations for work-related confirmed cases of COVID-19 if the hospitalization occurred within twenty-four (24) hours of an exposure to COVID-19 at work. See 29 CFR 1904.39(b)(6). [The employer must report such hospitalization within 24 hours of knowing both that the employee has been in-patient hospitalized and that the reason for the hospitalization was a work-related case of COVID-19. Thus, if an employer learns that an employee was in-patient hospitalized within 24 hours of a work-related incident, and determines afterward that the cause of the in-patient hospitalization was a work-related case of COVID-19, the case must be reported within 24 hours of that determination. See 29 CFR 1904.39(a)(2), (b)(7)-(b)(8).]
- Employers should note that 29 CFR 1904.39(b)(6)’s limitation only applies to reporting; employers who are required to keep OSHA injury and illness records must still record work-related confirmed cases of COVID-19, as required by 29 CFR 1904.4(a).
An employee has died of a work-related, confirmed case of COVID-19. If the Emergency Temporary Standard for Healthcare does not apply, do I need to report this fatality to OSHA?
- Employers must report fatalities for work-related confirmed cases of COVID-19 if the fatality occurred within thirty (30) days of an exposure to COVID-19 at work. See 29 CFR 1904.39(b)(6). [The employer must report the fatality within eight hours of knowing both that the employee has died, and that the cause of death was a work-related case of COVID-19. Thus, if an employer learns that an employee died within 30 days of a work-related incident, and determines afterward that the cause of the death was a work-related case of COVID-19, the case must be reported within eight hours of that determination.]
- Employers should note that 29 CFR 1904.39(b)(6)’s limitation only applies to reporting; employers who are required to keep OSHA injury and illness records must still record work-related fatalities, as required by 29 CFR 1904.4(a).
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