The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced on March 28th, 2022, its proposed amendments to workplace injury and illness recordkeeping requirements. On top of existing recordkeeping requirements, the proposed rule would require additional information from employers in high-hazard industries. OSHA believes these changes will help them identify areas where workers are most at risk. OSHA continues to investigate cases and pursue violators, like a recent employer who was found personally liable for repeated safety violations.
Overview of Existing Recordkeeping Requirements
In general, OSHA’s existing workplace injury and illness recordkeeping regulations cover employers with more than 10 employees. Meanwhile, the rules partially exempt employers in certain low-risk industries, like office administrators, shoe stores, and florists. The regulations require covered employers to keep records of serious work-related injuries and illnesses. Minor injuries that only require first aid, on the other hand, do not fall under the recordkeeping requirements. Injury and illness records help employers, employees, and OSHA stay up-to-date with workplace safety and common industry hazards. In addition to required documentation, employers must:
- Maintain records for at least five years.
- Post an annual summary of injuries and illnesses within the past year.
- Electronically submit the summary to OSHA.
- Provide copies of their records to current and former employees or their representatives, if requested.
Proposed Amended Workplace Injury and Illness Recordkeeping
Besides the existing recordkeeping and reporting requirements for workplace injuries and illnesses, the proposed amendments would require some employers in high-hazard industries to electronically submit supplemental information from their injury and illnesses reports. In summary, the proposed amendment would:
- Require employers of 100 or more employees in some high-hazard industries to electronically report information from their OSHA Forms 300, 301, and 300A on a yearly basis.
- Remove the requirement that employers of 250 or more employees not in a designated industry submit information from their Form 300A annually.
- Update the classification system that determines covered industries under the electronic submission requirements.
- Have employers include their company name when submitting information to OSHA.
Finally, employers with 20 or more employees in specific high-hazard industries would still need to electronically submit information from OSHA Form 300A annually.
More Information
The proposal, Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses, will be published in the Federal Register on March 30. Subsequently, interested parties may submit online comments using Docket No. OSHA-2021-0006. Note that the deadline for submitting comments is May 31.