Federal agencies Recordkeeping

OSHA proposes Dec. 1 deadline for reporting injury, illness data

Anti-retaliation
Photo: Ridofranz/iStockphoto

Washington – OSHA is proposing to delay until Dec. 1 the compliance date for employers to electronically submit injury and illness data as part of the agency’s Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses final rule.

The original compliance date was July 1. OSHA is seeking the delay “to provide the new administration an opportunity to review the new electronic reporting requirements prior to their implementation and allow affected entities sufficient time to familiarize themselves with the electronic reporting system, which will not be available until August 1,” according to a notice published in the June 28 Federal Register.

The controversial rule, which went into effect Jan. 1, requires establishments with 250 or more workers to electronically submit information from OSHA Form 300A to the agency. OSHA intends to make the information public on its website.

Comments on the proposed extension are due July 13.

Post a comment to this article

Safety+Health welcomes comments that promote respectful dialogue. Please stay on topic. Comments that contain personal attacks, profanity or abusive language – or those aggressively promoting products or services – will be removed. We reserve the right to determine which comments violate our comment policy. (Anonymous comments are welcome; merely skip the “name” field in the comment box. An email address is required but will not be included with your comment.)

Title

michael walker
June 30, 2017
Good Morning, I am wanting to improve my Trailer Safety Inspection Training for our Distribution Department, and I can't find any training DVD's on this subject. Can you help me find this training. Thank you in Advance Michael Walker

Title

Chris
June 30, 2017
OSHA is wrong in requiring this. Recently, OSHA issued a rule that stated an employer could not penalize an employee for reporting an injury, which may have been necessary many years ago but doesn't seem so today. Now they issue another rule making employers report those injuries in a much more public forum, which will undoubtedly bring unwanted attention from OSHA and people who are generally opposed to companies they see as evil, greedy, and otherwise bad for whatever personal motivations the people may have. As a plant safety manager, I am very nervous that if I report an incident on an OSHA website, and someone who, for whatever reason doesn't like my company finds out, it will be a trigger for vandalism, negative press, protests in front of the plant, or any of a number of harmful activities. Our workplace has a particular characteristic that some people don't like, and we have received several letters over the last few years from OSHA asking about this. We believe these were reported by former employees as retribution for their terminations, and OSHA has accepted our report that the characteristic is properly addressed. However, making non-fatality incident reports on every minor laceration that needs a stitch or every shoulder tweak that an employee experiences and can convince the doctor to prescribe oxycontin will open employers up to an unknown and unknowable number of harmful and unfounded attacks from the less responsible and accountable in our communities.

Title

John
June 30, 2017
In construction and general industry there is still the stigma of when an injury is reported there will be adverse actions taken against the worker. The method to solving this issue is not to report every injury and making it public thereby hoping to "guilt" a company into taking corrective actions to eliminate the hazards that caused those injuries. The safety models that have proven to be true must involve the owners, management and workers in identifying hazards and eliminating them. Anything short of total involvement and sincerity will fail. We visit construction and general industry sites routinely and perform audits as part of our service. There is a wide range of difference still today on how company's are treating safety. Some have gone well beyond OSHA minimums and those workers seem to be part of the company rather than a replaceable employee. It comes down to value on both management and worker. If neither values safety but considers it only a priority then nothing can be gained. Once the production falters then safety becomes only sometimes necessary. We have seen companies adopt a strategy of investing in workers and it has paid off in many other ways besides safety. If workers feel the need to report to OSHA only after they were terminated then the question needs to be asked, what caused them to not report those issues prior to leaving? Again, It takes everyone involved in safety for it to work. Often beginning with the process is a great place to start.