On September 1, 2015 the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) implemented a new requirement that employers report any hospitalization of an employee with a work-related injury, when the hospitalization occurred within 24 hours of the incident. Work-related motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) on public roadways are excluded. This requirement was implemented to comply with federal OSHA regulations.
METHODS:
Since January 1, 2014 all 136 of Michigan’s hospitals were required to report all hospitalized work-related injuries of selected acute traumatic injuries where workers’ compensation was the expected payer. In addition, Michigan’s surveillance systems for work-related amputations, burns, skull fractures and crushing injuries initiated respectively in 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2013 have identified all work-related hospitalizations for these conditions even where workers’ compensation was not the payer. Reports received included personal identifiers of the patient and the company where the injury occurred. Individuals whose workplace could not be identified in the medical records were contacted to obtain employer information. Companies were referred for a MIOSHA enforcement inspection when the hospitalization reports were received within six months of the injury.
RESULTS:
Hospitals identified 717 work-related hospitalized injuries in 2014. An additional 14 self-employed, 70 MVCs and 110 hospital admissions beyond the 24-hour window of time since the work-related injury were not included in the 717 total. The demographics were: men (81.7%); Caucasians (87.6%) and African-Americans (7.2%); Hispanic ethnicity (22.8%); age range: 16-88, mean/median age: 44.8/46.0; mean hospitalization length of stay: 5 days; most common primary diagnosis: fractures (61.9%); most common industries: Manufacturing (NAICS 31-33) (21.9%), Construction (NAICS 23) (20.1%) and Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services (NAICS 56) (7.5%); causes: fall (52.8%), machine (20.4%), struck by (19.3%), other (5.8%) and assault (1.7%). MIOSHA cited 20 of the 26 companies it investigated.
CONCLUSIONS:
The new OSHA reporting rule will provide company-specific injury reports and identify the more severe non-fatal work-related injuries. The requirement will help identify the workplaces where workers are at the greatest risk of injuries. Michigan will be able to evaluate employer compliance with the new reporting requirement of hospitalized employees beginning with data from the second half of 2015, using the existing Michigan multi-source work-related injury surveillance system to match up identified hospitalizations with employer-reported injuries. The new reporting requirement, along with the existing injury surveillance program, will allow for additional workplace inspections leading to the identification of correctable workplace hazards to further protect employees.