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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 116 / Monday, June 21, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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areas where suspected or confirmed COVID19 patients are treated absent evidence suggesting other sources. For example, if a nurse is working on a hospital floor dedicated to the treatment and care of COVID19 patients, and there is an outbreak among co-workers, it is likely that a COVID illness contracted by the nurse is work-related, absent evidence of an outside exposure.
Finally, OSHA wishes to emphasize that, under OSHAs recordkeeping regulation at 29 CFR part 1904, employers must record on the OSHA
300 log each work-related fatality, injury, and illness reported to OSHA
under 1904.39. The work-relatedness determination for fatality and in-patient hospitalization is no different than the requirement to determine workrelatedness when entering fatalities, injuries and illness on the OSH 300 log.
Accordingly, the work-relatedness determination for reporting COVID19
fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations is a determination that is already required to be made by the employer.
II. Time Periods for Reporting COVID
19 Fatalities and In-Patient Hospitalizations As noted above, under paragraph r, employers must report each workrelated COVID19 fatality or hospitalization to OSHA within the specified timeframes based on when any agent or employee of the employer becomes aware of the reportable event.
For example, an employer learns of a COVID19 fatality or in-patient hospitalization when a supervisor, receptionist, or other employee at the company receives information from a family member or medical professional about an employee fatality or in-patient hospitalization. It is the employers responsibility to ensure that appropriate instructions and procedures are in place so that managers, supervisors, medical personnel, as well as other employees or agents of the company, who learn of an employees death or in-patient hospitalization due to COVID19 know that the company must make a report to OSHA.
Consistent with OSHAs regulation at 29 CFR 1904.39, the reporting clock begins to run with the occurrence of the reportable event. Under paragraph r, in situations where the employer or the employers agent does not learn about the work-related COVID19 fatality or in-patient hospitalization right away, the employer must make the report to OSHA within 8 hours for a fatality, or 24 hours for an in-patient hospitalization, from the time the employer or the employers agent learns about the reportable event. For
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example, if an employee dies from a work-related case of COVID19 on Sunday at 6:00 a.m., but the employer does not learn about the death until Monday at 8:00 a.m., the employer has until 4:00 p.m. that day to make the report to OSHA. Similarly, if an employee is in-patient hospitalized for a work-related case of COVID19 at 8:30
p.m. on Monday, but the employer or the employers agents does not learn about the hospitalization until 9:00 a.m.
the next day Tuesday, then the employer would be required to make the report to OSHA within 24 hours of learning of the in-patient hospitalization i.e., by 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday see 29
CFR 1904.39b7.
Likewise, if an employer does not learn right away that a reportable fatality or in-patient hospitalization is work-related, the employer must make the report to OSHA within 8 hours or 24 hours of learning that the death or inpatient hospitalization was the result of a work-related COVID19 exposure. For example, if an employee is in-patient hospitalized for a case of COVID19 at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, but the employer does not have enough information to make a work-relatedness determination until 11:00 a.m. on Monday, then the employer would be required to report the hospitalization within 24 hours of learning that the hospitalization was work-related i.e., by 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday see 29 CFR 1904.39b8.
Finally, if an employer makes a report to OSHA concerning a work-related COVID19 in-patient hospitalization and that employee subsequently dies from the illness, the employer does not need to make an additional fatality report to OSHA.
III. How To Report COVID19 Fatalities and In-Patient Hospitalizations and What Information Must be Included in the Report Paragraph r2 of the standard provides that when reporting workrelated COVID19 fatalities and inpatient hospitalizations to OSHA in accordance with paragraph r1, the employer must follow the requirements in 29 CFR part 1904.39, except for 29
CFR 1904.39a12 and b6. As explained above, OSHA has included specific provisions for the reporting of work-related COVID19 fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations that differ from 29 CFR 1904.39. However, when making COVID19 fatality and inpatient hospitalization reports to OSHA, employers must follow the other reporting procedures set forth in 1904.39. Specifically, under 1904.39a3, employers have three options for reporting work-related
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fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations to OSHA:
1. By telephone to the OSHA Area Office that is nearest to the site of the incident;
2. By telephone to the OSHA toll-free central telephone number, 1800321
OSHA 18003216742;
3. By electronic submission using the reporting application located on OSHAs public website at www.osha.gov.
Section 1904.39a3 also allows employers to report work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations to OSHA in person to the OSHA Area Office that is nearest to the site of the incident. However, because many OSHA Area Offices are closed to the public during the COVID19 pandemic, employers must use one of the three options listed above. In addition, 1904.39b1 makes clear that, if the OSHA Area Office is closed, an employer may not report a work-related fatality or in-patient hospitalization by leaving a message on OSHAs answering machine, faxing the Area Office, or sending an email. Instead, the employer must make the report by using the 800
number or the reporting application located on OSHAs public website at www.osha.gov.
The other provisions in 29 CFR
1904.39 except for 29 CFR 1904.39a1
and2 and b6 also apply to the reports required by paragraph r. For example, employers should consult 29
CFR 1904.39b2 to determine what information employers must give to OSHA when making reports of COVID
19 fatality or in-patient hospitalization.
Per that provision, employers must give OSHA the following information for each fatality or in-patient hospitalization: The establishment name, the location of the work-related incident, the time of the work-related incident, the type of reportable event i.e., fatality or in-patient hospitalization, the number of employees who suffered a fatality or inpatient hospitalization, the names of the employees who suffered a fatality or inpatient hospitalization, the employers contact person and his or her phone number, and a brief description of the work-related incident.
References Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
2020, May 20. Reporting and Coding Deaths Due to COVID19. https
www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/coding-andreporting.htm. CDC, May 20, 2020.
Pappas, S. 2020, May 19. How COVID19
Deaths are Counted. Scientific American. https www.scientific american.com/article/how-covid-19-

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