OSHA’s changes to recordkeeping and reporting requirements became effective January 1, 2015.  

The new changes require employers who are regulated by OSHA to report all work-related fatalities within 8 hours and all work-related inpatient hospitalizations, amputations, and losses of an eye within 24 hours of the incident.  States with their own OSHA approved State Plans were encouraged by OSHA to implement these changes in 2015 but in recognizing the challenge that some states may face in meeting the January 1, 2015 date, OSHA gave these states until January 1, 2016 to implement the changes.   

On January 28,2015, the Virginia House of Delegates unanimously approved legislation which brings Virginia in line with OSHA’s new requirements.  On January 29, 2015, the Virginia Senate referred it to the Committee on Commerce and Labor.  The proposed wording of House Bill No. 1681, § 40.1-51.1 is:

D.  Every employer shall report to the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry within eight hours any work-related incident resulting in (i) a fatality, (ii) the inpatient hospitalization of one or more persons, (iii) an amputation, or (iv) the loss of any eye, as prescribed in the rules and regulations of the Safety and Health Codes Board.

Note that the proposed wording of the Virginia bill requires all reportable incidents be reported within 8 hours of the work-related incident, whereas OSHA only requires fatalities be reported within 8 hours and all other reportable work-related incidents must be reported within 24 hours. 

Virginia’s Bill on Injury Reporting may be tracked at http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?151+sum+HB1681.