It’s one down and at least two to go on the legal front for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and its decision to rescind electronic injury and illness reporting for companies with 250 or more employees and for smaller companies in designated high risk industries.
The Obama-era rule, crafted in 2016, was designed to capture digitally — and then make available to the public — the affected companies’ data from their on-site OSHA Forms 300 and 301. It was to go into effect on July 1, 2018, until the Trump-era OSHA delayed it, and finally this year issued a rule rescinding it.
The case just concluded argued that the agency failed to go through a public commentary period and thus its rule was invalid.
Judge Timothy J. Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, however, said his court lacked jurisdiction over the dispute, and the hearing was adjourned.
OSHA Form 300A must still be physically posted by Feb. 1 of each year, and data from the form will continue to be submitted to OSHA.