On March 31, 2026, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced it will not cite employers for failing to record COVID-19 cases or report COVID-19 fatalities and hospitalizations. OSHA’s existing recording and reporting requirements for workplace injuries sometimes implicated COVID-19, but with this new enforcement guidance employers will be able to avoid those requirements when dealing with COVID-19. This brings OSHA’s guidance around COVID-19 in line with how it treats the common cold and flu cases, which are generally not considered work-related and don’t need to be recorded or reported.
Tips: This is good news for employers in Idaho and Montana who fall exclusively under OSHA’s jurisdiction, and for employers in Arizona, whose state program sticks to OSHA’s rules. Employers in California, Oregon, and Washington with state-level OSHA programs will need to continue complying with the standards in their states for recording and reporting when COVID-19 is involved, subject to further guidance. For questions about how to handle any recording or reporting issue, contact your Vigilant safety professional. Also, see our Q&A, “Don’t wait to record on-the-job injuries and illnesses” and our Legal Guide, Catastrophe/Fatality Notification Procedure (3576).
