OSHA and PERRP Severe Injury Reporting

Submitted By Paul Feck, Sedgwick on Thursday, 3/12/2026

In 1970, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created at the federal level, but public employees were exempt from coverage. This was addressed in 1992 when the Public Employment Risk Reduction Program (PERRP) was established specifically for public sector employers, including state agencies, counties, townships, and school districts, to ensure safe and healthy work environments.

The agencies might be different, but both private companies and public entities in Ohio are required to report certain severe injuries to OSHA or PERRP. The requirements are similar for both agencies, but the reporting structure is different. Both agencies include the following incidents as reportable:

• Fatality – death as a result of awork-related injury or illness.

• Inpatient hospitalization – Hospitalization means an employee received inpatient service of a

hospital or clinic for care and treatment as a result of a work-related

incident.

o    Does not include:

• Treatment in an emergency room or urgent care facility that does not result in admission to the inpatient service of a hospital or clinic.

• Admission to the inpatient service of a hospital or clinic that occurs more than 24 hours after the work-related incident.

• Amputation - Amputation means the traumatic loss of a limb or other external body part. This includes:

  • A part (like a limb or appendage) which was severed, cut off, or amputated, whether completely or partially

  • Fingertip amputations with or without bone loss

  • Medical amputations resulting from irreparable damage

  • Amputations of body parts which were reattached

  • Does not include:

    • Avulsions

    • Deglovings

    • Scalpings

    • Severed ears

    • Broken or chipped teeth

• Loss of an eye - Loss of an eye means the physical loss of an eye, including enucleation and evisceration.

For both organizations, fatalities must be reported within 8 hours of being made aware and inpatient hospitalizations, amputation and loss of an eye must be reported within 24 hours of being made aware.

Now, let’s take a look at the specific reporting requirements for each agency.

Under PERRP, public employers must report a fatality or severe injury by one of the following methods:

• Report Online

  • Submit either a Fatality Reporting Online Form (PERRP-7) or Serious Injury Reporting Online Form (PERRP-8), depending on the situation

• Report by Phone

  • Call the Public Employment Risk Reduction Program (PERRP) 24-hour hotline at 1-800-671-6858 and press option 1, and

  • Complete the Fatality Reporting Online Form (PERRP-7) or Serious Injury Reporting Online Form (PERRP-8)

Notification forms can be completed and submitted Online:

• The fatality reporting form can be found here.

• The serious injury reporting form can be found here.

or emailed to:

• Fatality reporting forms should be emailed to: perrpfatality@ohio.gov

• Severe injury reporting forms emailed to: perrpinjury@ohio.gov

Under OSHA, private employers must report the incident by one of the following methods:

• By telephone or in person to the OSHA area office that is nearest to the site of the incident.

• By telephone to OSHA: 1-800-321-OSHA (6742).

• By electronic submission using the reporting application located on OSHA’s public web site at www.osha.gov

OSHA and PERRP both state that an incident does not have to be reported if it:

• Resulted from a car accident on public street or highway (except in a construction zone).

• Occurred on a commercial or public transportation system (airplane or bus)

• Involved hospitalization for diagnostic testing or observation only.

Be sure to visit the websites for the full reporting requirements.

• OSHA’s full regulations for reporting can be found under 29 CFR 1904.39.

• PERRP regulations can be found at Ohio Administrative Code Section 4167-6-10 and can be found here.

A few final thoughts regarding severe injury reporting.

1. When reporting the incident, be sure to document the day and time it was reported

2. In the event you are unavailable to report a severe injury, be sure to identify a back- up or two.

3. Finally, the best way to minimize dealing with the reporting, is to ensure your safety program and training are up to date.

If you have any questions regarding your Severe Injury Reporting requirements, please contact Andy Sawan, Risk Services Specialist at Sedgwick at 330-819-4728 or

andrew.sawan@sedgwick.com.

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