Failure to report serious accidents and fatalities to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in a timely manner can result in significant financial fines. OSHA RRI.
You are required to report serious injuries that occur at your practice to OSHA within twenty-four hours of their occurrence. OSHA defines “serious” injuries as employee hospitalization, an amputation, or the loss of an eye. Fatalities must be reported within eight hours.
Shortly after you report an accident or fatality injury to OSHA, one of two things will occur:
- An inspector will knock on your door to conduct an inspection,
- You will be required to conduct a Rapid Response Investigation (RRI).
When OSHA requests an RRI form following an accident, they typically don’t conduct an onsite inspection of your workplace as well. Instead, the Agency is expecting you to conduct your own investigation or “root cause analysis” into the work-related incident, and to share your findings and corrective actions with them. In addition to identify how the incident occurred, you are also expected to determine how to prevent a similar event from happening again in the future.
Sounds pretty straight forward, but if you don’t complete your RRI form correctly, it can trigger a follow-up OSHA inspection, which you certainly want to avoid. Therefore, you must be very careful of what you include on your RRI to avoid admitting guilt or liability. In other words, do not put in writing that you violated an OSHA regulation.
You can also trigger an investigation if OSHA is dissatisfied with what you report on your RRI form — like if you simply blame the victim.
It’s important that you understand that RRI responses are not legally privileged, therefore, they are discoverable in civil, third-party litigation. This means that your RRI response can be used against you in future OSHA findings, by other government agencies, or be used by others in legal proceedings.
Tips When Writing Your RRI OSHA RRI
- Be Factual: Your RRI responses must be accurate. Make sure you have conducted a complete investigation and know all the facts. Interview the injured person as well as any witnesses. Use photos of the accident scene to write your response. Remember it is a felony to give misinformation to the Department of Justice.
- Be Concise: Your response should be short and to the point. You should state the basic information about the accident by clearly describing what happened (who, what, when, where, how) and what corrective actions you have taken. Only answer the questions that have been asked. Avoid long, complex explanations.
What to Include/Exclude OSHA RRI
- Include Eyewitness Information: In your report state what witnesses saw or what is known from physical evidence at the accident scene and not what someone thinks “may” have occurred. Don’t speculate and stick with the facts.
- Request an Extension: Some cases may be complicated, and a root cause analysis could take longer than the 5-day period of time OSHA gives you to respond. You are allowed to ask for more time but do so, in writing, before the 5-day period expires.
- Include Management: Be sure to include how management was involved in the investigation and their commitment to providing a safe work environment for all workers.
Common Corrective Actions OSHA RRI
If OSHA is satisfied with the corrective action you’ve taken to prevent future accidents, they are not likely to conduct a follow-up investigation. List each action you have taken clearly and separately. You should also include when that action was completed and who did it.
Clearly reporting the actions you’ve taken since the accident occurred shows OSHA that you are serious about preventing such incidents in the future. Corrective actions can be simple or complicated depending on the complexity of the accident. Several examples of acceptable corrective actions include:
- Conducting refresher training
- Holding a safety meeting to discuss the incident
- Placing a guard on a machine
- Replacing a piece of equipment
- Repairing a defective machine or equipment
- Implementing an audit program
- Purchasing PPE to be worn for a specific job task
Preparing for an Inspection OSHA RRI
Sometimes, even if you do everything right, you can still be hit with an OSHA inspection. Accordingly, it is very important that you are always ready, just in case – since you won’t know when it could occur. Here are some tips to follow to ensure your practice is in compliance with OSHA requirements.
- Ensure employees know the importance of reporting all accidents in a timely manner.
- Make certain all required safety training is up to date. This includes documenting training dates, topics and employees in attendance.
- Make sure accident and injury records are current.
For more information on OSHA and how to ensure your practice is in compliance with its requirements, check out these two online training sessions that are available for immediate access:
- New OSHA COVID 30-Day Deadline is Over, You Must Comply Now, presented by Matthew Deffebach, JD
- Face Mask Policy Enforcement: Avoid Violations, Fines and Lawsuits, presented by Michael Wong, Esq.
Source: United State Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration website.
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