What Is 8 CCR §342: Reporting Fatalities and Serious Injuries?

Immediately means as soon as practically possible but not longer than 8 hours after the employer knows or with diligent inquiry would have known of the death or serious injury or illness.

What is 8 CCR §342?

It is Cal/OSHA's rule requiring a fast report, by phone or email, every time a worker dies on the job or is hurt badly enough to meet this rule's definition of serious, on top of the routine injury paperwork.

Every employer has to make this report once it knows, or should know through a reasonable check, that a worker died or was badly hurt in connection with the job. If the employer can show real exigent circumstances, the deadline stretches to 24 hours instead of 8. Separately, if police or fire responds to the scene first, that agency also has to notify Cal/OSHA right away. Once a report comes in, the Division decides whether to investigate, and generally does for a death or a serious case, under Labor Code section 6313. This guide shows how to look up what an inspection found.

What counts as a serious injury or illness that must be reported?

Hospital admission beyond simple observation, an amputation, the loss of an eye, or a serious permanent disfigurement.

Section 342 itself points to an older definition in a different Title 8 section, 330(h). That figure now lives in Labor Code section 6302(h) instead. A case counts as serious when it needs a hospital stay as an inpatient, not just observation or tests, when a worker suffers an amputation or loses an eye, or when a lasting disfigurement is medically significant. An ordinary crash on a public street usually will not count, unless it happened in a construction zone. Starting January 1, 2026, the Legislature folded silicosis and silica-related lung cancer into that same list.

What has to be in the report itself?

The basics: who, what, where, and whether the scene has been disturbed.

• The time and date of the incident, and the injured worker's name and address.
• The employer's name, address, and phone number, plus who is making the report.
• The address where it happened, and where the injured worker was taken.
• What the injury actually is, and whether the scene or equipment has been changed since.
• Any other agencies, such as police, already on the scene.

Keep your own notes on these details too. They often matter later, both for a Cal/OSHA review and for your own claim.

How is this different from the Form 5020 report?

Form 5020 is slower and broader; this immediate report is faster and narrower.

Almost every work injury with lost time or care beyond first aid gets a Form 5020 report, due within 5 days. This card explains that separate 5-day duty in full. A Spanish-language explainer of the same form, que es el Formulario 5020, covers the same ground for Spanish-speaking readers. Section 342 only applies to the narrower, worse category, a fatality or a serious injury, and it moves on an 8-hour clock instead of a 5-day one. An employer who skips this specific immediate report, as opposed to the slower Form 5020, can face a civil penalty of at least $5,000 under Labor Code section 6409.1(b), the statute this regulation carries out.

Does a late or missing report affect your family's benefits?

No. A missing or late Cal/OSHA report is the employer's problem to answer for, not a condition of your benefits.

Workers' comp death benefits are paid without regard to fault. A family does not have to prove this report happened, or happened on time, to receive what the law provides. This guide covers how those benefits work and what they pay. A dependent's own deadline to claim death benefits runs separately, usually tied to the date of death. This card covers that filing deadline in full. Whoever reports the death or injury, a coworker, a family member, or the worker, is protected from retaliation for doing so. This card explains that protection.

Getting help after a fatal or serious workplace injury

Losing a loved one, or recovering from a serious injury, is overwhelming on its own, and the paperwork does not wait for anyone to catch up. Yazdchi Law, in Palmdale, can walk a family or an injured worker through the claim while you handle everything else. Call (661) 273-1780 or use the contact form. The first call costs nothing. If the firm takes the case, this page covers the contingency fee and the workers' comp judge who has to approve it, and every matter still gets reviewed on its own facts before the firm decides whether to take it.