OSHA revises rule, goes digital

The OSHA Training Center at Chabot-Las Positas Community College District, the authorized OSHA Training Institute Education Center headquartered in Northern California, has announced a new final rule that revises OSHA’s requirements for recording and submitting records of workplace injuries and illnesses. Effective January 1, 2017, OSHA will require certain employers to electronically submit the injury and illness information they are already required to record under existing OSHA regulations for posting to the OSHA website.

“OSHA will compile and use the electronically submitted injury and illness data to keep employers, the public and the government better informed about workplace hazards,” said Cari Elofson, assistant director of the OSHA Training Center at Chabot-Las Positas Community College District. “One of OSHA’s primary goals is to enable researchers to examine the data in innovative ways that may help identify and prevent new workplace hazards before they become widespread.”

The new reporting requirements will be phased in over two years:

• Employers with 250 or more employees in industries covered by the current recordkeeping regulation must submit information from their 2016 Form 300A by July 1, 2017, and information from all 2017 forms (300A, 300, and 301) by July 1, 2018.
• Employers with 20-249 employees that are classified in industries with historically high rates of occupational injuries and illnesses must submit information from their 2016 Form 300A by July 1, 2017, and their 2017 Form 300A by July 1, 2018.
• Beginning in 2019 all establishments must submit information by March 2.

In addition, the final rule includes provisions that encourage workers to report work-related injuries or illnesses to their employers and prohibit employers from retaliating against workers for making those reports.