Feds tighten rules on workplace death reporting

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government is tightening its rules on the reporting of workplace deaths and severe injuries, declaring that employers beginning Jan. 1 must report any fatalities within eight hours of the accident or incident.

Work-related hospitalizations, amputations or losses of an eye will now have to be reported within 24 hours, under the final rule announced by the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Previously, OSHA's regulations required such reports to be filed only if three or more workers were killed or hospitalized while on the job.

Speaking of the stronger rules, Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez says, "We can and must do more to keep America's workers safe and healthy."

The agency says no company will be exempt, no matter how small.