1904 — the clock starts before anyone has decided what happened.
Electrical incidents are the hardest recordkeeping calls in the building, because the injury that looks minor at the scene often is not, and the one that looks dramatic sometimes is.
A work-related fatality must be reported to OSHA within 8 hours. A work-related inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye must be reported within 24 hours. The clock runs from when you learn of it — not from the incident.
An arc flash victim taken to the emergency department, treated and released is not a reportable inpatient hospitalization. The same victim admitted for burn care is, and burn cases very often become admissions hours later. Do not close the reporting question at the ED door — follow the case.
§ Reporting mechanics
- By telephone to the nearest OSHA Area Office, the 24-hour hotline, or the online reporting form.
- Fatalities are reportable if they occur within 30 days of the work-related incident.
- Inpatient hospitalization, amputation and eye loss are reportable if they occur within 24 hours of the incident.
- Reporting is required regardless of employer size or exemption status from routine recordkeeping.
§ What makes it recordable
A work-related injury or illness is recordable if it results in any of:
Death
Days away from work
Restricted work or transfer to another job
Medical treatment beyond first aid
Loss of consciousness
A significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional
§ The judgement calls that recur
| Situation | The consideration |
|---|---|
| Arc flash burn, cleaned and dressed on site | First aid vs medical treatment turns on the treatment, not the burn. Wound cleaning and non-prescription strength ointment is first aid; a prescription is not |
| Any loss of consciousness | Recordable on its own, whatever the treatment |
| Electrical contact with no visible injury | Send for evaluation regardless. Cardiac and internal effects can be delayed. A physician’s diagnosis of a significant injury makes it recordable |
| Flash burn to the eyes (arc eye) | Prescription drops are medical treatment; observation alone is not |
| Hearing shift found on an annual audiogram | A standard threshold shift meeting the 1904.10 criteria is recordable — see 1910.95 |
| Contractor employee injured on your site | Recorded by the employer who supervises them day to day — but see multi-employer for citation exposure |
A recordable-or-not determination is an administrative question. It is not the same question as “was the electrically safe work condition established.” An incident with no injury — an arc with nobody in front of it, a wrong-cabinet racking — is not recordable and is the most valuable thing that will happen to your program all year. Capture it somewhere the 1904 log does not reach.
A contact incident with no visible injury is the one that gets waved off. The worker feels fine, the shift is short-staffed, nobody wants the paperwork. Send them anyway.
Your emergency action plan should name who makes the reporting call and how they are reached at 2 a.m. The 8-hour clock does not observe business hours.
An arc flash with a burned forearm, treated at the ED and released, correctly recorded as a recordable injury — and never reported to OSHA. Two days later the worker was admitted for grafting. The 24-hour clock had started when the admission occurred, and nobody was watching.
De-energize is still the answer
Every recordkeeping decision above starts with an energized-work decision that could have gone differently. That is what the class is about.
See the schedule Bring it onsite