Reporting and Recording Two Marine Terminal Injuries
At a marine container terminal, a longshore worker's right hand is caught between a lashing rod and a container corner casting. The distal tip of the ring finger is amputated; the worker is taken to an emergency clinic, treated, and released the same day. The terminal's safety manager also learns that a second worker was admitted to the hospital overnight for intravenous fluids after heat illness and released the next morning. The terminal employs eight people at that location; its parent company employs 300 nationwide. The safety manager has 24 hours to decide what to report to OSHA and what to record on the OSHA 300 log. The terminal's owner says the fingertip injury is too minor to report and the heat illness was just 'observation.'
1. Which of these two events must be reported to OSHA, and by when? Explain.
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Both events are reportable. OSHA requires reporting of an amputation within 24 hours; the rule covers traumatic loss of a body part, including a fingertip amputation, so the 'minor' argument fails. An in-patient hospitalization for medical treatment must also be reported within 24 hours. Admission overnight for intravenous fluids is treatment, not mere observation; if the worker was only kept for observation and received no medical treatment, reporting would not be required, but IV hydration for heat illness is treatment. The 8-employee establishment size affects routine recordkeeping, not the reporting rule. The fatality deadline is 8 hours, but no fatality occurred. The employer should call OSHA's reporting line and document the time, facts, and representative contacted. Do not wait for the 300-log decision.
2. How should each event be recorded on the OSHA 300 log, if at all?
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Because the terminal has eight employees at that establishment, it is likely exempt from routinely maintaining the OSHA 300 log: the recordkeeping exemption applies to establishments with 10 or fewer employees at all times during the previous calendar year. The parent company's 300 employees do not change the establishment-size test. Reporting is still required. If the establishment is not exempt, or if it keeps a log voluntarily, both cases are recordable: the amputation is a recordable injury, and the heat illness with in-patient treatment is a recordable illness. Record days away or restricted work only if the worker missed work or was placed on restriction beyond the day of injury; released the same day may mean no days away. The employer should keep the reporting documentation even if no 300 log is required.