When One Injury Touches Three Rule Sets

At 4:10 p.m. on a Thursday, a shift lead at a distribution center in Georgia phones the regional HR manager. A forklift operator has gone to an urgent care clinic and is expected to miss at least a few days of work. The company also runs a plant in North Carolina and an assembly site in Ohio, and an acquisition last spring added a small operation in Ontario. The HR manager owns injury reporting for all of them.

She opens the spreadsheet. It has a column labeled "report due." Nobody remembers who filled in the Georgia row. It might have come from the state board's own page, or from a colleague's email three years ago. The date it produces may well be right, but she cannot show why.

That gap between a date and the rule behind it is what this hub addresses. Below is every launch jurisdiction in one place, each with its trigger, its day-count unit, its recipient and its primary source, plus a link to the full guide. By the end you will be able to find the clock that applies to your site, see what each rule text says about how days are counted, and spot the rows where sources disagree.

How to Read the Chart: Units, Triggers and Recipients

A first report of injury is the employer's notice of a work injury to whoever the jurisdiction names. Usually that is the insurance carrier or claims administrator. In some places it is a state agency or board, and in Ohio it is the Bureau of Workers' Compensation. It is a separate document from your OSHA record, which we cover in the first report of injury guide.

Every row in the chart answers four questions: what starts the clock, how the days are counted, who receives the report, and which primary source says so. Any employer first report of injury deadline by state is incomplete without all four.

The unit matters because rules count in different ways. Some use hours, some calendar days, some working days, some business days, and some say only "days" or name an ordinal day such as "the eighth day." Where the text gives no basis, we say so and do not guess.

Triggers vary as much as units. A rule may run from the employer's knowledge, from an employee's absence, from lost time beyond the shift, or from disability exceeding a stated period. We sometimes call the date the employer first knew "Day Zero." Most of these rules count from a form of it, but the exact wording differs.

We do not reproduce state forms. Each guide links to the agency's own page.

Reference material with citations, not legal advice. You decide recordability and compensability, and you file.

Employer First Report of Injury Deadline by State: The Chart

Every row cites a primary source, with the vintage the source carries.

Jurisdiction Trigger Unit as stated Recipient Source
California (DWC-1) Notice or knowledge of an injury causing lost time beyond the work shift, or medical treatment beyond first aid One working day Injured employee (claim form provided) Labor Code §5401, 2025 code
California (Form 5020) Employer obtains knowledge of an occupational injury or illness "Five days"; the rule does not say calendar or working days Insured employer: the insurer (8 CCR §14001(e)); otherwise confirm with the Department of Industrial Relations Labor Code §6409.1; 8 CCR §14001
Texas (subscriber) Employee absent more than one day because of an injury; or notice of an occupational disease (Form-001 also lists a death) "Not later than the eighth day"; the statute does not say calendar or working days Insurance carrier Tex. Lab. Code §409.005; 28 TAC §120.2
Texas (non-subscriber, 5+ non-exempt employees) A death, more than one day off work, or learning of a work-related illness No later than the seventh day of the following month DWC, on DWC Form-007; filing method: confirm with Texas DWC TDI employer FAQ, checked 2026
Florida Actual knowledge of injury or death "Within 7 days"; the statute does not say calendar or working days Carrier Fla. Stat. §440.185(2), 2026 statutes
New York Work-related injury or illness "Within ten days" (Section 110); the text does not say calendar or working days Not stated in the text checked Form C-2F, checked 2026
Pennsylvania Death; or other injury with disability continuing the entire day, shift or turn in which it was received 48 hours (death); "within 7 days after the date disability begins" (other), calendar or working not stated Bureau of Workers' Compensation 34 Pa. Code §121.5; DLI publication
Illinois Injury causing loss of more than 3 scheduled work days; or death Between the 15th and 25th of each month (which month is not stated); 2 working days for death Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission 820 ILCS 305/6(b), checked 2026
Ohio Injury or occupational disease causing seven days or more of total disability "Within a week" of knowledge; how the week is counted is not stated, so confirm with Ohio BWC Bureau of Workers' Compensation ORC §4123.28
North Carolina Knowledge of injury causing absence of more than one day, or medical charges above the Commission's amount "Within five days"; the text does not say calendar or working days Industrial Commission NC Industrial Commission employer page; G.S. 97-92
Georgia (Board filing) Notice of an injury requiring medical or surgical treatment, or causing absence from work for more than seven days "Within ten days after notice" (statute); Board Rule 61 gives insurers 21 days, so plan to the earlier date State Board of Workers' Compensation O.C.G.A. §34-9-12(a); SBWC 2026 Rules, Rule 61
Michigan Disability exceeding seven consecutive days, a death, or a specific loss "Immediately" once triggered; no fixed period stated Workers' Disability Compensation Agency and the carrier WDCA employer page, checked 2026
Ontario Worker needs health care and loses time, earns less, or needs modified work at regular pay beyond the stated period 3 business days (WSIB); "three days" (ontario.ca) WSIB WSIB Form 7 FAQ, checked 2026

Each full guide goes deeper on one jurisdiction:

Where Sources Disagree, or Don't Say

Several rows rest on two sources that describe the same duty differently. We show both and attribute each.

Texas. The rule text in 28 TAC §120.2 runs the clock from absence of more than one day. The instructions on DWC Form-001 (Rev. 10/05) word the trigger differently:

"not later than the eighth day after the receipt of notice of occupational disease, or the employee's first day of absence" — DWC Form-001 instructions

The statute, Tex. Lab. Code §409.005(b), says "not later than the eighth day after" the absence or the notice. We do not resolve this for you. Confirm the current reading with Texas DWC.

New York. Form C-2F says a work-related injury must be reported within 10 days under Section 110 of the Workers' Compensation Law. The Board's timely-reporting guidance tells employers to notify the insurer immediately. It then gives the insurer until the 18th day after the injury, or 10 days after the employer learns of it, whichever is greater. These are two different duties, and the Board does not require the C-2F if the insurer files electronically, per the form itself.

Georgia. The Board row above covers the Board filing only. The Board's employer page says that "immediately upon knowledge of an injury" the employer must complete and file a WC-1 with its insurer's or self-insurer's claims office, and the Board rules assign a 21-day Board filing to insurers and self-insurers, while the statute sets ten days after notice. "Immediately" has no fixed period. Confirm the notice-to-carrier timing with the Georgia State Board or your carrier.

North Carolina. The current Commission rules, 11 NCAC 23A, set the medical-charge threshold at $4,000. Confirm the current threshold with the Commission.

Ontario. WSIB says the employer must file Form 7 within 3 business days. Ontario's government guidance says within three days of learning about the injury. WSIB charges a $250 CAD late-reporting penalty for reports after three business days, per its reference guide. WSIB's policy says business days "are Monday to Friday, and do not include statutory holidays" (WSIB Operational Policy 15-01-02). We do not list the Ontario statutory holidays here, so confirm the business-day count with WSIB.

Pennsylvania. The Bureau's publication gives 48 hours for a death and seven days for other disabling injuries, and 34 Pa. Code §121.5(a) uses the same figures. Neither says whether the seven days are calendar or working days. Confirm the timing and any filing window with the Bureau and 34 Pa. Code.

Plain "days." Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia and the California 5020 give a day count without saying calendar or working days. Ohio says "within a week," and Michigan says "immediately." For those rows, the employer first report of injury deadline by state is only as precise as the source text, so we leave the basis open, and you should confirm it with the named agency.

The First Report Is Not the OSHA Record

A first report goes to a carrier, board or agency. OSHA recordkeeping runs on a separate track and on separate clocks.

Under 29 CFR 1904.29, each recordable injury or illness must be entered on the OSHA 300 Log and 301 Incident Report within seven calendar days of receiving information that a recordable case has occurred (29 CFR 1904.29(b)(3), eCFR current October 15, 2026). The rule rests on recordability, and recordability is your decision. The first-report triggers in the chart use each jurisdiction's own language, which differs from OSHA's. Whether a case is recordable, and whether a claim is compensable, are decisions the notice above leaves with you.

Severe-injury reporting is a third clock. Under 29 CFR 1904.39(a), federal OSHA requires a work-related fatality to be reported within 8 hours, and an in-patient hospitalization, amputation or eye loss within 24 hours, by telephone or in person to the nearest OSHA Area Office, by calling 1-800-321-6742, or through OSHA's online application (OSHA, checked 2026). Three launch states run their own State Plans, and their windows differ:

  • California requires a serious injury or illness, or death, to be reported to Cal/OSHA immediately, meaning "as soon as practically possible but not longer than 8 hours after the employer knows or with diligent inquiry would have known." If the employer can show exigent circumstances, §342(a) allows no longer than 24 hours after the incident (Title 8 §342, checked 2026). Title 8 defines "serious injury or illness" separately, so read that definition with Cal/OSHA.
  • North Carolina's OSH Division requires notice within eight hours of a work-related fatality (NCDOL, checked 2026). It requires notice within 24 hours of an in-patient hospitalization, amputation or eye loss.
  • Michigan's MIOSHA requires the in-patient hospitalization of one or more employees to be reported within 24 hours (MIOSHA instruction, checked 2026). Confirm the current reporting channel with MIOSHA.

Keeping Many Clocks in One Place

Most employers handle this today with a spreadsheet and an email thread. It holds dates, but not the rule that produced each date, and it keeps no trail of which rule was in force when a clock started. Carrier and state portals are free and authoritative, but they work one carrier or state at a time.

The Injury Report Deadline Calculator by State is a store workbook that computes deadline dates from a knowledge date, jurisdiction by jurisdiction. It shows the unit behind each date, so you can see whether a count runs in hours, calendar days or working days. You decide recordability and you file, and it submits nothing to anyone. For a 20–100-employee employer in a single state, a workbook is usually the more natural fit than a subscription.

Separately, ClaimsIntake's app is being built, and it is not live. It will use a versioned rule table in which each row will carry its agency citation and a "last verified" date. It will not decide recordability, hold medical records, or file on your behalf. To follow its progress, join the waitlist.

Your Next Step

Start with the sites you run. For each one, find the row above, open the linked primary source, and write down the trigger, unit and recipient in your own file. Mark every row where the text gives no day basis, and confirm those with the named agency or your carrier. An employer first report of injury deadline by state is only defensible when its citation sits next to it.

Reference material with citations, not legal advice. You decide recordability and compensability, and you file.

To turn your sites into computed dates, see the Injury Report Deadline Calculator by State.