New national workplace injury and fatality reporting requirements will take effect Jan. 1, 2015, requiring all private companies to report major injuries.
The new rules also will expand reporting requirements for certain businesses, including car dealerships, but reduce reporting requirements for others.
The new requirements from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration will expand the reporting requirements of all private-sector businesses, making mandatory reports of work-related inpatient hospitalizations, work-related amputations and work-related losses of an eye.
Workplace fatalities must be reported within eight hours, and follow-up reports must be filed within 24 hours.
Private sector businesses previously were required only to report to federal regulators work-related fatalities and hospitalizations of three or more employees.
Julie Rabinowitz, spokeswoman for the Maine Department of Labor, said state officials are reaching out to trade groups and others to spread notice of the new requirements.
For less serious occupational injuries and illnesses, several businesses are newly exempt from reporting. Among them are convenience stores and corporate sales offices.
Car dealerships with 11 or more employees were added to the list, a change Maine Department of Labor officials said will cover an estimated 4,000 employees in the state.
A full list of the types of businesses exempt from those routine reports is available at the OSHA website.