“Any amputation is one too many,” said Bill Teets, spokesman for the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, which offers programming and training to employers to prevent accidents.
Many employers, especially small- and medium-sized firms, may be unaware of or simply are ignoring the new reporting requirements, which could mean 50 percent or more of severe injuries are not being disclosed, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
With few exceptions, work-related injuries can be avoided if employers follow OSHA safety guidelines, officials said.
Since Jan. 1, 2015, private employers in about 29 U.S. states have been required to notify OSHA when employees suffer severe work-related injuries.
The rule applies to workplaces under federal OSHA jurisdiction. Twenty-one states run their own health and safety programs.
In 2015, U.S. employers reported more than 10,000 workplace injuries to OSHA that resulted in a hospital stay, loss of an eye or the surgical removal of all or part of a limb, toe, finger or hand.
Ohio employers submitted 759 reports of severe injuries last year, which included 487 hospitalizations and 266 amputations, the data show.
Prior to the new reporting rules, employers only had to report incidents to OSHA that led to fatalities or catastrophe, which were three or more hospitalizations for the same incident, Jordan Barab, the deputy assistant secretary of labor for OSHA told this newspaper on Friday.
But OSHA responded to about one-third of all injury reports and almost 60 percent of the amputation reports with an inspection by a compliance officer.
The agency also responded to other hospitalization reports with requests that the employers investigate the incidents and come up with a plan to prevent future injuries.
“There was an enormous opportunity out there for us to actually intervene and ensure that employers took action where these incidents happened,” Barab said.
OSHA violations are found at basically every work site where severe injuries occur, said Barab.
Earlier this month, OSHA issued several citations to Safeway Packaging Inc. in New Bremen, located about 24 miles north of Piqua.
OSHA investigated the corrugated packaging company after a worker suffered a “severe” injury in November while using an air hose to clean scrap from beneath a press.
Another employee started up the conveyor, tearing off a large part of his hand, the citation states.
OSHA proposed thousands of dollars in penalties against the company, as well as corrective action plans.
In a statement, the company said, “Safeway is totally committed to safety. It is our number one priority.”
Traumatic injuries can be life-changing not just for the workers but also for their loved ones and coworkers, officials said.
OSHA research found that occupational injuries hurt people’s ability to enter or stay in the middle class, said Barab.
Only about 20 percent of the financial costs related to a workplace injury are covered by workers’ compensation, while the rest often comes from social service programs, family and personal savings, he said.
People can lose the ability to do many jobs.
OSHA said the reporting requirements also will help the agency target employers in high-incident industries to identify and eliminate hazards.
Ohio has one of the largest manufacturing sectors in the nation. Manufacturing jobs tend to have more workplace dangers than many other industries, because of heavy machinery and equipment and moving mechanical parts, officials said.
Nationwide, manufacturing accounted for about 26 percent of all hospitalization reports and 57 percent of amputation reports. Construction had the second most reports (19 percent hospitalization, 10 percent amputation).
Between 2005 and 2013, more than 5,000 workers in Ohio, including more than 500 in this region, filed workers' compensation claims for amputation injuries, according to data analyzed by the newspaper.
It is worth noting that many amputation incidents involve the severing or removal of fingertips or small portions of digits, said Teets, with the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.
The state has been diligent to raise awareness among employers of their responsibility to report severe injuries, Teets said.
OSHA has raised its financial penalties for employers who do not report severe injuries.
The reporting system will provide the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation with useful information to help develop safety programming and ways to mitigate particular safety issues, Teets said.
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