One-Third of OSHA Injury Reports Lead to an Inspection

OSHA launched inspections 33 percent of the time when employers notified the agency of hospitalizations, amputations or eye losses in 2016, according to records.

The likelihood of an inspection was slightly less than in 2015, the first year of a requirement to notify OSHA, when 38 percent of the reports resulted in inspections.

The small decline could be the result of the agency’s area offices becoming more confident with responding to reports by asking employers to conduct their own inquiry and abate hazards, rather than dispatching Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors to workplaces, the agency’s director of enforcement, Thomas ...