Fatality and Severe Injury Reporting
24-hour and 8-hour reporting procedures, notification contacts, documentation requirements.
What this document is
This document explains the mandatory procedures for reporting workplace fatalities and severe injuries to OSHA or Cal/OSHA. It provides contractors with clear steps to meet notification timelines, identify required contacts, and maintain proper records.
The regulation that requires it
29 CFR 1904.39 and T8 CCR §342 require employers to report work-related fatalities within eight hours and certain severe injuries within 24 hours. The federal rule states that employers must report any work-related fatality or any work-related injury or illness that results in in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye. California adopts equivalent requirements under Title 8 that apply to all employers in the state and add specific Cal/OSHA contact procedures.
Who needs it
General contractors, specialty trade contractors, and any employer with employees working on job sites must follow these rules. The requirements apply nationwide under federal OSHA and to all California employers under Cal/OSHA. California contractors face both federal baseline rules and additional state-specific notification steps when an incident occurs on a California job site.
What happens without it
Failure to report a fatality or severe injury is typically cited as a serious violation. Current OSHA penalty schedules set serious violations at a maximum of $16,131 per violation and willful or repeated violations at a maximum of $161,323 per violation. Late or missing reports increase the chance of an inspection and can lead to multi-employer citations on construction sites where multiple contractors share responsibility.
What's included in the generated document
- Reporting Timelines and Criteria
- Federal and Cal/OSHA Notification Contacts
- Required Information to Provide During a Report
- Recordkeeping and Documentation Requirements
- Sample Reporting Checklist
How to implement it at your company
- Talk to Guy first. Describe your operation, trade, and location — Guy draws from 300,000+ verified OSHA and state regulatory citations to build a compliance plan specific to your company. Your answers shape every section of the document you receive. Takes about 10 minutes.
- Assign a safety coordinator responsible for making all required reports.
- Post the Cal/OSHA and federal OSHA emergency contact numbers at every job site and in the main office.
- Create an internal incident reporting form that captures all details needed for an official OSHA report.
- Train supervisors to contact the safety coordinator immediately after any serious incident.
- Keep copies of every report submitted along with the date and time it was made.