Section 34-9-12. Employer's record of injuries; availability of board records; supplementary report on termination of disability; penalties; routine reports

   (a) Every employer subject to the provisions of this chapter relative to the payment of compensation shall hereafter keep a record of all injuries, fatal or otherwise, received by his employees in the course of their employment on blanks approved by the board. Within ten days after notice, as provided in Code Section 34-9-80, of the occurrence of an injury to an employee requiring medical or surgical treatment or causing his absence from work for more than seven days, a report thereof shall be made in writing and mailed to the board on blanks to be procured from the board for this purpose.

(b) The records of the board, insofar as they refer to accidents, injuries, and settlements, shall not be open to the public but only to the parties satisfying the board of their interest in such records and their right to inspect them. The board shall provide data contained on Employers' First Report of Injury forms reporting fatalities to the Georgia Department of Labor and the United States Department of Labor for use in the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries Program. The board shall provide data to such other state and federal governmental entities or departments as required by law. Under such reasonable rules and regulations as the board may adopt, the records of the board as to any employee in any previous case in which such employee was a claimant shall be open to and made available to such claimant, to an employer or its insurance carrier which is called upon to pay compensation, medical expenses, or funeral expenses, and to any party at interest, except that the board may make such reasonable charge as it deems proper for furnishing information by mail and for copies of records. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit the board or its designees from publishing decisions of the board, provided adequate security measures have been taken to protect the identity and privacy of the parties.

(c) Upon the termination of the disability of the injured employee, the employer shall make a supplementary report to the board on blanks to be procured from the board for the purpose. The report shall contain the name, nature, and location of the business of the employer; the name, age, sex, and wages and occupation of the injured employee; and shall state the date and hour of the accident causing the injury, the nature and cause of the injury, and such other information as may be required by the board.

(d) Any employer who refuses or willfully neglects to make the report required by subsection (a) of this Code section shall be subject to a penalty of not more than $100.00 for each refusal or instance of willful neglect, to be assessed by the board, a member, or an administrative law judge in an open hearing, with the right of review as in other cases. In the event the employer has sent the report to the insurance carrier for forwarding to the board, the insurance carrier willfully neglecting or failing to forward the report shall be liable and shall pay the penalty.

(e) Every employer shall, upon request of the board, report the number of his employees, hours of their labor, and number of days of operation of business.

Ga. L. 1920, p. 167, § 65; Ga. L. 1923, p. 92, § 6; Ga. L. 1929, p. 358, § 1; Code 1933, § 114-716; Ga. L. 1957, p. 493, § 1; Ga. L. 1963, p. 141, § 16; Ga. L. 1975, p. 198, § 12; Ga. L. 1988, p. 1679, § 2; Ga. L. 1993, p. 1396, § 1; Ga. L. 1994, p. 97, § 34; Ga. L. 2002, p. 846, § 1; Ga. L. 2010, p. 126, § 1/HB 1101.