School Fatality Reporting

A recent employee fatality in a school district highlighted an important, but often overlooked requirement by the Bureau of Workers Compensation (BWC): reporting. BWC/PERRP requires that all employee fatalities resulting from a work-related incident must be reported and recorded within eight hours, including inpatient hospitalization of three or more employees from a single work-related incident. The eight-hour reporting requirement starts when the accident takes place or as soon as the district becomes aware of the death or multiple hospitalizations. Reporting can be done either in-person or by calling the fatality reporting hotline: 1-800-671-6858. Once reported, such a fatality or hospitalization immediately generates a PERRP inspection (investigation). Failure to provide the incident report in a timely manner generates a citation. More information is available on the BWC’s website.