Reporting a severe incident to OSHA is a fixed-hour duty under 29 CFR 1904.39. Two deadlines, and the exam exists to see whether you swap them.
The two deadlines
- Fatality: within 8 hours after the death resulting from a work-related incident.
- In-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye: within 24 hours.
That pairing is the whole unit. 8 hours is the fatality window and 24 hours is the hospitalization, amputation or eye-loss window — reversing them is the single most missed point here. 4 hours, 12 hours, 48 hours and 72 hours are not deadlines the rule uses for any reportable event.
Working the clock
A machine operator loses a finger at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday. An amputation is a 24-hour event, so the report is due by 9:00 a.m. Wednesday.
- 5:00 p.m. the same Tuesday applies the 8-hour fatality window to a 24-hour event.
- 9:00 a.m. Thursday doubles the period to 48 hours.
- "By the end of the following calendar week" treats a fixed-hour deadline as a recordkeeping cycle.
The pressure scenario
A contractor employee dies at 6:00 a.m. and the plant manager asks HR to hold off until the internal investigation is done. Report the fatality to OSHA within 8 hours. The duty does not wait on an investigation.
- Completing the 300 Log entry first confuses the recording duty with the separate reporting deadline.
- Waiting as the plant manager asks misses a fixed legal deadline.
- Letting the insurance carrier file delegates a duty the rule places on the employer.
Carry this in: reporting is triggered by the severity of the event and runs on the clock, no matter what else is unresolved.