The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was expecting some 350,000 electronic filings of injury and illness reports (Form 300A) by the Dec. 31, 2017, much-delayed deadline, but instead received only 153,653 filings, according to a report by Bloomberg. On top of that, 60,992 firms that didn’t need to file did so anyway.
Scott Mugno is still awaiting confirmation by the Senate to be head of OSHA.
The reports, according to a May 2016 OSHA rule, are to be filed by all businesses with 250 or more employees and by any high-hazard business (such as manufacturing or construction) with 20-249 employees, which OSHA estimated to comprise about 350,000 establishments overall, leaving the agency some 200,000 reports short on this first go-round.
The Dec. 31 deadline was for data from 2016. July 1 is the deadline for 2017 data. OSHA has until June 15 to inspect any operation that failed to submit data for 2016.
Form 300A is a summary of all workplace injuries and illnesses occurring in the previous calendar year. Under the new rule, the electronic results would then be published on a dedicated website for all to see, leaving critics to label this a “blame-and-shame” system.
It’s not entirely clear why there were so many firms that didn’t file, but some observers say it was due to confusion over who exactly is exempt. OSHA itself is somewhat rudderless as well since its nominee for administrator, Scott Mugno, has yet to be confirmed by the Senate.
Another factor stems from OSHA’s November 2017 announcement that it would seek public commentary about revising or repealing the rule entirely in 2018.
OSHA is aware of the non-reporting problem and issued a memorandum in February to all regional administrators reminding them that failure to submit reports could lead to Other Than Serious violations for workplaces and potential fines of $12,934. However, the memo gives the employer a partial out — an Other Than Serious citation but no fine — if he presents the printed data to the compliance officer immediately upon the visitation, or if he shows he has already uploaded the 2017 data.