Loss of an Eye Reporting to OSHA: The 24-Hour Rule Explained

Report the physical loss of an eye to OSHA within 24 hours; losing sight without losing the eye is not reportable, though it will almost always be recordable. The report is due only if the loss occurs within 24 hours of the incident.

• 8 hours: report a work-related fatality, counted from when you learn of it (deaths within 30 days of the incident).
• 24 hours: report an in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye (events within 24 hours of the incident).
• 7 calendar days: record the case on the 300 Log and complete the 301.
• Year end: the case is part of the reviewed log and the certified 300A.

Report to OSHA within 8 hours after a work-related fatality, and within 24 hours after a work-related in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye (29 CFR 1904.39). Report by phone or in person to the nearest Area Office, by calling 1-800-321-6742, or online at osha.gov/report; voicemail, fax, and email do not count. A fatality is reportable only if the death occurs within 30 days of the incident, and a hospitalization, amputation, or eye loss only if it occurs within 24 hours. The clock starts when you or your agent learn of the event and that it was work-related. Reporting does not replace recording: the case still goes on the 300 Log.

Eye injury cases require fast reporting decisions and careful wording. Report work-related loss of an eye within 24 hours and keep the OSHA 300 case support separate.

1. Confirm the event type.
2. Check the reporting threshold.
3. Collect the medical facts.
4. Classify the case on the OSHA 300.

Report as soon as you realize the deadline passed, and give OSHA the actual times: when the incident happened, when you learned of it, and when you reported. Late reporting can be cited, with a maximum of $16,550 per serious or other-than-serious violation in 2026. Then make sure the case is on the 300 Log as well.

Teams sometimes confuse loss of sight with physical loss of an eye.

Reporting decisions are made under pressure with partial facts, and a call that waits on an investigation is usually a late call. The fix is a written escalation path: who decides, who calls, which number, and what to have in hand, so the report never waits for the investigation.

EHS managers usually run the monthly review, which is the best point to catch the late medical updates that change a case.

• Later diagnosis can affect recordability even when immediate reporting is not triggered.
• Motor vehicle accidents on a public street or highway are not reportable unless they happen in a construction work zone, and events on commercial or public transportation (plane, train, subway, bus) are not reportable. Both are still recorded if they meet the criteria.

A grinder operator's eye is struck by a fragment. Surgeons remove the eye that evening: reportable within 24 hours, and recorded. A coworker whose eye is saved but who loses most of the vision in it is recorded, but not reported as a loss of an eye.

300log records on each case's 301 whether the employee was treated in an emergency room or hospitalized overnight as an in-patient, and any date of death, so the log entry sits next to the facts behind a report. The report itself goes to OSHA by phone or at osha.gov/report.

For a quick answer without an account, use the free recordability checker.

• Construction Work Zone Vehicle Accidents and OSHA Reporting
• Commercial Transportation Incidents and OSHA Reporting Exceptions
• Delayed Hospitalization After a Work Injury: OSHA Reporting and Recording
• Annual Average Employees on OSHA 300A: How to Calculate the Field