As per recent legislation, AB-2837, effective January 1, 2003 any employer who fails to report to the Division a fatal injury or serious injury or illness to an employee within 8 hours (or 24 hours if there are exigent circumstances) will be subject to a minimum civil penalty of $5,000. It also makes it a misdemeanor for an employer, officer, management official, or supervisor to fail to report a death to Cal/OSHA or knowingly to induce another to do so. Violation may result in a penalty of up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $25,000 or both. If the violator is a corporation or a limited liability company, this bill imposes a fine of up to $250,000.

The premium on policies written in 2002 will increase 5.9% as of January 2003 to reflect the increased cost of these benefits, according to the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau estimates. For policies written in 2003, costs will increase 9.7% just for the increase in benefits - these benefits are only a portion of the total increase in rates for policies effective January 1, 2003 or after. By 2006, when the law takes full effect, costs are projected to have increased by 17.8%. These preliminary estimates are subject to review by the State Insurance Commissioner.

EMPLOYERS REPORTING RESPONSIBILITIES
TO CAL/OSHA PERTAINING TO ON-THE-JOB
INJURIES AND ILLNESSES

Incidents requiring reporting to the Division within 8 hours:

• Fatal injury to an employee
• Serious injury or illness to employee

Serious injury or illness is defined as:

• Loss of a member of the body (e.g., amputation
• Serious degree of permanent disfigurement (e.g., crushing or severe burn type injuries)
• In-patient hospitalization in excess of 24 hours for other than observation

If a fatal or serious injury or illness to an employee occurs, the employer must report by telephone or fax to the nearest district office of the Division (see link below) not longer than 8 hours after the employer knows or with diligent inquiry would have known of the incident. If the employer can demonstrate that exigent circumstances exist, the time frame for the report may be made no longer than 24 hours after the incident.

Information required to be reported to the Division:

1. Time and date of accident.
2. Employer's name, address and telephone number.
3. Name and job title, or badge number of person reporting the accident.
4. Address of site of accident or event.
5. Name of person to contact at site of accident.
6. Name and address of injured employee(s).
7. Nature of injury.
8. Location where injured employee(s) was (were) moved to.
9. List and identity of other law enforcement agencies present at the site of accident.
10. Description of accident and whether the accident scene or instrumentality has been altered.

Note: To find the CalOSHA Enforcement District Office nearest you, click here.