OSHA recordable accidents

Investigate and report all OSHA recordable accidents and injuries. This information may be useful in determining areas where more work is needed to prevent such accidents in the future. 

The national laws vary concerning the requirements to report less severe accidents to the responsible authorities. In the USA, so-called OSHA recordable accidents involving absence from work, medical treatment, loss of consciousness, restriction of work or motion or transfer to another job are reported to the authorities on a sampling basis. 

Provide employee accident experience for the past 5 years, including the current year. The submittal shall specifically include OSHA recordable cases rate, lost and restricted workday cases rate, vehicle accident rate, and number of fatalities with a description of each. The workers compensation interstate experience modification rate should be less than 1.0, and applicable SIC codes should be noted. 

Lost time accidents Ashland has a corporate goal to eliminate occupational injuries and illness. For APAC the target date is 2003. In 1999 Ashland s group OSHA recordable frequency rate was 4.87. The rates in the divisions were ... 

Lost time accidents a chart is given showing global frequency rates for OSHA recordable injuries. At DuPont the figure has varied between approximately 0.5 and 1.0 injury per 200000 hours. In 1998 and 1999 the figure was nearer 1.0. 

Workplace safety is measured by only one statistic, the OSHA recordable rate. Based on this statistical yardstick, continuous process industries continue to be among the safest industries in the country and are getting safer. Many plants have celebrated working millions of hours without a lost work day accident. While all eyes are on the OSHA recordable rate, releases of hazardous materials, fires, mechanical breakdowns and near misses are not included in the safety statistics, (p. 7)... 

Monitor leading indicators using the Safety Scorecard Identify and report incidents, near misses, and unsafe conditions Track accident investigations and store causal factor data Assign and manage corrective actions / Collaborate with multiple departments for incident resolution Monitor the status of tasks and projects Manage OSHA-recordable and other injury records... 

Some of the traditional resources include accident records, insurance claims, first aid reports, OSHA records, etc. 

The second suggested analysis should take the contractors OSHA incident rates into consideration. OSHA requires employers to report and record accident information on occupational injuries and illnesses on the annual OSHA 300 Log. The employer must... 

The next requirement for the company is an accident register. This is a record of all DOT-recordable accidents the company has been involved in over the previous three years. This accident register is a separate requirement from the OSHA Form 300 Illness and Injury log. The OSHA illness and injury log tracks only work-related illnesses and injuries. The FMCSA-required accident register only tracks accidents the company was involved in meeting the FMCSA s definition of an accident. An accident, as far as the FMCSA is concerned, is any occurrence involving a commercial vehicle operating in commerce (on the road) that involved ... 

The company not only has achieved significant reductions in both OSHA-recordable and lost-time incidents but also has had a significant reduction in accident severity. The graph in Figure 24.7 reflects a steady decline in severity and fairly stable results for the last few years. 

The OSHA record-keeping criteria have been discussed in detail as an example of the issues with all of the injury record keeping we reviewed. The old ANSI system had just as many different ways of using the same criteria as does the OSHA system. The international schones we have reviewed have similar problems, with the added complexity of vastly different cultural attitudes about accident and prevention measures. 

Although OSHA recordability is an important point, we should not lose sight of the big picture. That is what caused this accident What are the reasons that this injury occurred We need to determine the reasons for injuries so that we can prevent the recurrence. I am going to repeat this statement because the point is paramount We need to determine the reasons for injuries so that we can prevent the recurrence. 

If your company has chosen to take the conservative stance on OSHA recordability of accidents, it will probably be perceived as less safe than a competitor that has a less conservative approach to OSHA recordability. The long and the short story is Your company may needlessly be losing awards because of a conservative stance on OSHA recordability. 

As mentioned earlier, determining an accident trend analysis should be relatively easy. In principle, at least, it is easy, or it should be however, a variety of obstacles will probably be encountered when trying to determine the current status of safety culture. In the initial chapters, we discussed how an OSHA log can be a guide to potential problem areas. OSHA logs, accident reports, incident investigations, accident review boards, medical records, worker interviews, OSHA citations, and other information can provide a lot of information about safety culture development. 

OSHA IMIS Records of workplace inspections, including those prompted by accidents where a worker is injured 1984-Present Information from OSHA field inspections, a third party More accurate description of impacts on employees and contractors Keyword indexing allows for easy search and retrieval Not comprehensive, limited to incidents selected by OSHA Inspections without abstracts cannot be keyword searched causal information unavailable Designed to assist compliance enforcement, not to report on incident causes Limited information from State-Plan states Not designed to be a lessons-leamed database... 

Occupational illness and injury187 cost 30-40 billion dollars/yr in the United States.188 In 1994 there were 6.8 million injuries and illnesses in private industry, amounting to 8.4 cases per 100 workers. Nearly two-thirds were disorders associated with repeated trauma, such as carpal tunnel syndrome.189 The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 set up the National Institute Safety and Health (NIOSH) to study the problem and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to deal with it through inspections and regulations. Both have received so much criticism of their effectiveness that they are struggling to find more effective ways to deal with the problem.190 NIOSH is searching for practical ways to protect workers, especially those in small businesses from methylene chloride, tetrachloroethylene, diesel exhaust in coal mines, isocyanates, 2-methoxyethanol, and others. OSHA is about to expand a plan that worked well in Maine, a state that used to have one of the worst accident and illness records in the United States.191 The 200 firms with the worst records were asked to look for deficiencies and to correct them. They were also inspected. These measures cut injuries and illnesses over a 2-year period. 

Sweden, have an elaborate public health apparatus with a presence in most large workplaces, so that accident and illness data are generated as byproducts of monitoring and treatment. This is the most accurate and informative approach. In the US, on the other hand, data are derived from OSHA employer logs, creating, as we have seen, disincentives to honest record-keeping. Nevertheless, some rough comparisons are possible. 

OSHA s mandatory record keeping requirements has simplified the process of collecting safety and health statistics for the purpose of monitoring problems and taking appropriate actions. Both exempt and nonexempt employers must report the following types of accidents within 48 hours (1) those that result in deaths, and (2) those that result in the hospitalization of five or more employees. 

The safety record is the worst evil because it makes people scared to report injuries, he [McKinnon] said. Moreover, he noted, incidence rates are a record of failure and not an accurate record either. He cited a company that had been listed as going more than 66 million man-bours without an accident, but an OSHA investigation found 117 injuries bad not been reported. 

Since the investigation must be initiated within 48 hours, it is important to have investigators or an investigation team trained and designated prior to any occurrence. That team should have an experienced leader, additional technical expertise, and a person knowledgeable of the process involved in the mishap. Data and records analysis, information review, reconstruction, interviews, equipment examination, and continuous team consultation are important to efficient closure. An Accident Investigation Report form is included in the OSHA Pamphlet 3133 (US. Department of Labor, OSHA 1992). 

Like your recordkeeping system for vehicle accidents, you ll need to keep two sets of records for injuries and illnesses one set of records to meet the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and one set that is for your eyes only and goes above and beyond the OSHA requirements. 

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