Final Rule: OSHA Injury and Illness e-Reporting to Start in 2017

In today’s Federal Register, OSHA posted a Final Rule that requires employers to file annual electronic reports of injury and illness data.  OSHA plans to publish the injury and illness data it receives on a public website—but will not publish personal identifying information about individual employees.

The information OSHA will require is data employers already record on forms like the OSHA Form 300, 300A, and 301.

In addition to the electronic reporting elements of the Final Rule, OSHA is amending and clarifying the 29 CFR regulations that protect employees against retaliation for reporting injuries and spell out employees’ rights to access injury and illness information at work.

The major reporting and recordkeeping changes in OSHA’s Final Rule include:

• Requiring employers with 20-249 employees in certain industries to report electronically on injury and illness data they record on OSHA Form 300A;
• Requiring employers with 250 or more employees to electronically report information from the OSHA Forms 300, 300A, and 301.
• Requiring employers to inform employees of their right to report work-related injuries and illnesses free from retaliation;
• Clarifying the existing injury and illness reporting requirements; and
• Amending OSHA recordkeeping regulations to clarify workers’ rights to access injury and illness records.

See the OSHA injury and illness Final Rule in the Federal Register here.

The Final Rule appears in today’s Federal Register, which means that the anti-retaliation portions of the Rule will take effect on August 10, 2016, and the first electronic reports will be due in March 2017.

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Tags: new, osha, reporting and recordkeeping, rules