The call that starts several clocks at once
It is 3:10 on a Tuesday afternoon. A plant supervisor in Georgia emails the HR manager of a 300-employee company. A forklift operator has gone to urgent care after an incident on the floor, was sent home, and may be off work for some time. No one knows how long. The HR manager also looks after a second Georgia site and a distribution center in North Carolina, and she keeps her deadlines in a spreadsheet built three years ago.
She has three questions. Is this a first report or only an internal incident report? If it is a first report, who receives it, and does the clock count calendar days or working days? And who can answer if she is out on Thursday?
The date the employer learned of the injury, which we will call Day Zero, is the one fact every state starts from. What follows from it differs by jurisdiction, and sometimes between two documents from the same agency. By the end of this guide you will be able to read any state's first-report rule and pull out its trigger, its recipient, its day count and the details it leaves unstated.
Reference material with citations, not legal advice. You decide recordability and compensability, and you file.
What a first report of injury is, and what it is not
A first report of injury is the employer's notice of a workplace injury to the party its state names. In many states that is the insurance carrier or claims administrator. The exceptions are Ohio's state fund (the Bureau of Workers' Compensation), Texas employers without coverage, and New York, where the Board does not require the C-2F if the insurer files electronically, according to the C-2F form (checked 2026). Each state sets its own trigger, recipient and day count, which is why no single national answer exists.
Incident report vs first report of injury is the distinction that causes the most confusion. An incident report is your internal record: what happened, who saw it, and what you will change. Your own policy sets its format and timing. A first report has an outside recipient and a clock set by that recipient's rule. Many employers use one form for both, then find that the facts they collected are not the facts the state form asks for.
The OSHA 301 Incident Report is a third document. It belongs to federal recordkeeping and stays in your own files. Our article on using a first report as the OSHA 301 covers how one set of facts can feed both without either being mistaken for the other.
Recordability is a separate question from whether a state's trigger is met. The thresholds come from different texts and may not match, so a case can meet one and not the other. You decide each. The comparison in workers' comp claim vs OSHA recordable walks through the difference.
How the main jurisdictions set trigger, recipient and day count
The table below states each rule with its trigger, day count, recipient and source. Where a source gives a number of days without saying calendar or working days, the day-count column says the basis is not stated, because the sources we cite do not say. For a longer state-by-state reference, see our first-report deadlines by state article. All sources were checked in 2026 unless a code vintage is shown. Confirm each rule with the named agency or your carrier before relying on it.
| Jurisdiction | Trigger | Day count, as the source words it | Recipient | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California, DWC-1 | Notice or knowledge of an injury causing lost time beyond the employee's work shift, or medical treatment beyond first aid | One working day | The injured employee (claim form provided) | Labor Code §5401 (2025 code) |
| California, Form 5020 | Knowledge of an occupational injury or illness | Five days; calendar or working not stated | The insurer, if insured; the Division directly, if self-insured | 8 CCR §14001(d)–(e); Labor Code §6409.1 (2025) |
| Texas, covered employer | Absence from work for more than one day due to injury, or notice of occupational disease or death | Eighth day; basis not stated | Insurance carrier | Tex. Lab. Code §409.005; 28 TAC §120.2 |
| Texas, non-subscriber | Death, more than one day off from an on-the-job injury, or learning of a work-related illness | Seventh day of the following month | DWC | TDI employer FAQ |
| Florida | Actual knowledge of injury or death | 7 days; basis not stated | The employer's carrier | §440.185(2) |
| New York | Injury or illness (C-2F wording); lost time beyond the shift or treatment beyond first aid (Board guidance) | 10 days (C-2F; basis not stated); "immediately" (Board) | Insurer (Board guidance); C-2F recipient not stated in the quoted wording | C-2F; Board guidance |
| Pennsylvania | Injury resulting in death; other injury with disability for the entire day, shift or turn, or longer | 48 hours; 7 days after disability begins (basis not stated) | Bureau of Workers' Compensation | 34 Pa. Code §121.5; DLI flow of a claim |
| Illinois | Injury causing loss of more than 3 scheduled work days; accidental death | Between the 15th and 25th of each month; 2 working days for death | The Commission | 820 ILCS 305/6(b) |
| Ohio | Injury or occupational disease causing seven days or more of total disability | Within a week; basis not stated; confirm with Ohio BWC | Bureau of Workers' Compensation | ORC §4123.28 |
| North Carolina | Absence from work for more than one day, or medical charges above the Commission's amount | Five days; basis not stated | Industrial Commission | G.S. 97-92(a) |
| Georgia | Any injury (to the insurer); medical or surgical treatment, or more than seven days of absence (to the Board) | "Immediately" (to the insurer); 10 days after notice under the statute (to the Board), while Board Rule 61 gives insurers 21 days | Insurer first; then the State Board (WC-1) | O.C.G.A. §34-9-12(a); SBWC 2026 Rules, Rule 61 |
| Michigan | Disability exceeding seven consecutive days, death, or specific loss | "Immediately" (WDCA publication) | WDCA and the carrier (WC-100) | WDCA employer page; WCPUB006 |
| Ontario | Work-related injury meeting the WSIA reporting duty | 3 business days (WSIB); "three days" (ontario.ca) | WSIB (Form 7) | WSIB policy 15-01-02; WSIB Form 7 FAQ; ontario.ca |
Federal clocks run alongside every row. Under 29 CFR 1904.39, an employer must report a work-related fatality to OSHA within 8 hours, and an in-patient hospitalization, amputation or eye loss within 24 hours (29 CFR 1904.39, eCFR; OSHA, checked 2026). Those are reports to OSHA, not first reports to a carrier. California, Michigan and North Carolina are State Plan states with their own reporting rules; see OSHA's State Plans page.
Recordable cases are entered on the OSHA 300 Log and the 301 within seven calendar days of receiving information that a recordable injury or illness has occurred (29 CFR 1904.29(b)(3), checked 2026). The recipient there is your own record, and whether a case is recordable is your decision.
One detail none of these sources states is whether the day of injury or knowledge counts as day one. Ask the agency or carrier, and write the answer down.
Where sources disagree, and where the day count is unstated
Some duties have two published descriptions. We show both and attribute each. We do not pick one for you.
Texas. Under 28 TAC §120.2, a Texas employer must file the first report with its insurance carrier no later than the eighth day after the employee's absence from work for more than one day due to a work-related injury, or after notice or knowledge of an occupational disease or death (Cornell LII, checked 2026). The instructions on DWC Form-001 (Rev. 10/05) say the report is due to the carrier not later than the eighth day after "the employee's first day of absence" (form instructions). The Labor Code uses the same "not later than the eighth day after" wording (Tex. Lab. Code §409.005(b)). The rule and the form describe the trigger differently, and none of the texts says how the days are counted. Confirm with Texas DWC. The Texas DWC Form-001 article goes through it in detail.
New York. The C-2F states that a work-related injury or illness must be reported within 10 days under Section 110 of the Workers' Compensation Law, or be subject to a penalty. The Board's timely-reporting guidance tells employers to notify the insurer immediately when an injury causes lost time beyond the working day or shift, or needs treatment beyond ordinary first aid or more than two first-aid treatments. The insurer then reports to the Board by the 18th day after the injury, or within 10 days after the employer learns of it, whichever is greater. Keep the employer's duty and the insurer's duty separate when you read these. The quoted C-2F wording does not name the recipient, so confirm how the two fit together with the WCB.
North Carolina. Under G.S. 97-92(a), an employer must report to the Industrial Commission within five days after knowledge of an injury causing absence for more than one day, or medical charges above the amount the Commission sets (checked 2026). The Commission's rules (11 NCAC 23A) set the current medical-charge threshold for Form 19 at $4,000 (rules, checked 2026). Confirm the current threshold with the Commission.
Pennsylvania. The regulation says the employer files a first report "within 48 hours for every injury resulting in death" and "within 7 days after the date disability begins" for other covered injuries (34 Pa. Code §121.5(a)). The DLI summary words the trigger a little differently. Neither says calendar or working days; confirm with the Bureau.
Ontario. WSIB says it must receive the employer's complete report within three business days after the employer learns of the reporting obligation, and that business days "are Monday to Friday, and do not include statutory holidays" (WSIB policy 15-01-02). Ontario's government guidance describes the same duty as within three days of learning about the injury. Confirm the count and which holidays apply with WSIB.
Georgia. The Board's rules say employers "shall complete Section A immediately upon knowledge of an injury and submit the form to their insurer," and that the insurer files the WC-1 with the Board within 21 days of the employer's knowledge of disability, injury or death (SBWC 2026 Rules, Rule 61). The statute sets a shorter period: a report "shall be made in writing and mailed to the board" within ten days after notice of an injury requiring medical or surgical treatment or causing absence from work for more than seven days (O.C.G.A. §34-9-12(a)). Those periods conflict, so plan to the earlier, 10-day date. "Immediately" has no fixed period. Confirm both with the Georgia State Board of Workers' Compensation.
Late reports: what the state sources say about penalties and cost
A late first report of injury penalty exists in some jurisdictions and is not stated in the sources we cite for others. The amounts below are dated facts, not predictions, and each applies only in its own jurisdiction.
- Florida. In the 2025 Florida Statutes, an employer or carrier that fails to send a required form, report or notice on time is subject to an administrative fine not to exceed $500 for each failure. The employer bears it when it misses the 7-day notice to the carrier (§440.185, 2025).
- Ontario (CAD). WSIB charges a $250 CAD late-reporting penalty for injuries or illnesses reported after three business days, and $1,000 CAD for those reported more than 30 calendar days late (WSIB reference guide, checked 2026).
- Texas. The Form-001 instructions say an employer who fails to file without good cause may face an administrative penalty. The text we cite gives no amount.
- New York. The C-2F says a penalty may apply to a report outside the 10 days. The form text states no amount.
For the other states in the table we are not printing a penalty figure. Check the agency's own page.
Cost is a different question. NCCI's report-lag analysis (January 2015, older data) found that the median cost of claims reported between one day and two weeks after an accident is significantly lower than for claims reported on the day of the accident or more than two weeks after it (NCCI). Same-day reports were not the lowest-cost group. A 2015 trade-press account of NCCI's analysis of 2010–2011 data reports attorney involvement in 12.8% of claims made the day of an accident, rising to 31.7% for claims reported four weeks or more later (Business Insurance). These are associations in older data. They do not show that reporting timing causes cost.
What to include, and what stays your decision
What to include in a first report of injury depends on the form your state or carrier uses, and that form is the authority. In general, forms ask for basic employer, employee and event details; check your state form for the exact fields. The knowledge date matters most. Nearly every trigger in the table starts from notice or knowledge, so record it when the information arrives, not when someone completes a form.
Report what the form asks, from what you know. Do not add diagnoses or treatment details the form does not request. Medical detail belongs with the treating provider and the carrier's process. If you learn something later that moves the knowledge date, record the correction with the date you learned it rather than overwriting the original.
Keep "the rule says" apart from "you decide." The rule says a trigger starts the clock: lost time beyond the shift, absence of more than one day, treatment beyond first aid, disability beyond a set number of days. You decide whether your facts meet that wording, whether the case is also recordable under Part 1904, and how you handle compensability. State wording and the first-aid definitions in 29 CFR 1904.7 may not match; check each against its own text.
Retention and access are yours too. OSHA 300 Logs, 300A summaries and 301 reports must be kept for five years following the end of the calendar year they cover (29 CFR 1904.33(a), checked 2026). The employer remains responsible for that retention, whatever tools it uses.
A routine to set up this week
You can build a defensible routine without buying anything.
- List every site, its state, and its carrier or state fund.
- For each jurisdiction, write one row with the trigger, unit, recipient and citation, plus the year you checked it.
- Mark every day count whose basis is not stated, and ask the agency or carrier in writing how it counts.
- Name an owner and a backup for each row.
- Re-check the rows once a year and whenever a carrier or site changes. Rules change, and someone has to own the re-check.
If a multi-site employer wants those clocks computed rather than hand-built, the multi-state first-report deadline tracker workbook computes deadline dates for each jurisdiction from the knowledge date you enter, and sets the trigger and recipient beside each date. It is a reference tool. You decide whether a trigger is met, and you file. If you run a single state with a small workforce, a workbook is a better fit than any subscription.
We are also building an app for the same job: one report that will show every deadline that applies, with each rule row carrying its citation and a "last verified" date. The employer will still decide and file. To get updates as it takes shape, join the waitlist.
Reference material with citations, not legal advice. You decide recordability and compensability, and you file.
