In the first year of a new reporting requirement, employers notified the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration of more than 10,000 severe work-related injuries, the department announced today. Temporary help services reported 123 severe injury reports, 90 hospitalization reports and 33 amputation reports. Temporary help services is part of the employment services industry group, which reported 158 severe injury reports.

Since Jan. 1, 2015, employers have been required to report any severe work-related injury — defined as a hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye — within 24 hours. The requirement that an employer report a workplace fatality within eight hours remains in force.

In the first full year of the program, employers reported 10,388 severe injuries, including 7,636 hospitalizations and 2,644 amputations. OSHA reported it responded by working with employers to identify and eliminate hazards rather than conducting a worksite inspection in a majority of those cases.

The top five industry groups reporting severe injuries were:

1. Foundation, structure and building exterior contractors: 391
2. Building equipment contractors: 343
3. Support activities for mining (drilling oil and gas wells and support services for oil and gas operations): 323
4. Nonresidential building construction: 271
5. Postal service: 229

“In case after case, the prompt reporting of worker injuries has created opportunities for us to work with employers we wouldn’t have had contact with otherwise,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health David Michaels, who authored the report. “The result is safer workplaces for thousands of workers.”