Dive Brief:
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The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration last week strengthened a rule requiring construction firms and other businesses to notify the government when an employee is killed on the job or injured badly enough to require hospitalization.
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The revised rule requires companies with more than 10 employees to report work-related fatalities to OSHA within eight hours and in-patient hospitalizations, amputations or losses of an eye within 24 hours.
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Previously, reports were required only for in-patient hospitalizations involving three or more employees.
Dive Insight:
David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, says the updated rule will allow the agency to target workplaces where employees are at the greatest risk so they receive more compliance assistance and enforcement. Construction firms have been under fire from OSHA recently, with a report showing that construction firms make up 60% of OSHA's severe violator list.