Federal agencies Recordkeeping Video

Critics of OSHA recordkeeping rule air concerns at House hearing

Ms. Sprick

Photo: House Workforce Protections Subcommittee

Washington – Critics of OSHA’s recently released recordkeeping rule, which would make worker injury and illness data public, voiced their concerns during a May 25 hearing convened by the House Workforce Protections Subcommittee.

The rule, Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses, was published May 11. It states that establishments with 250 or more workers must electronically submit to OSHA – on an annual basis – information from their OSHA Forms 300, 300A and 301. Establishments with 20 to 249 workers in certain high-hazard industries will have to submit information from their annual summary form, OSHA Form 300A. The agency will then make information available on its website in a searchable database.

Industry stakeholders claim the rule’s requirements will be burdensome to employers, expose workers’ private information and fail to improve workplace safety.

Lisa Sprick, president of Corvallis, OR-based Sprick Roofing, testified on behalf of the National Roofing Contractors Association. Sprick said the reported injury and illness information will lack important context of the circumstances, such as the size of the business. For example, she said, if two companies have two injuries apiece, it will be unknown that one company has 100 workers and the other has two workers.

“Misuse of the information by third parties could be harmful to employers,” Sprick said. “It is not hard to imagine one of my competitors gathering this information and using it to sell against me. Another concern is possible inadvertent public disclosure of private employee information that could cause harm to my workers.”

Subcommittee chairman Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) said the regulatory changes will create “additional layers of red tape” for employers – particularly small business owners.

“The agency will need to spend millions of dollars on this special-interest tool, which will shift scarce resources away from proactive policies to improve safety, such as inspections and compliance assistance programs,” Walberg said. “And in the process, the agency is jeopardizing the privacy of workers’ personal information.”

However, supporters of the rule say it will help prevent injuries and illnesses and improve transparency. Rosemary Sokas, professor and chair of the Department of Human Science at Georgetown University’s School of Nursing and Health Studies, testified on behalf of the American Public Health Association.

“OSHA’s new recordkeeping rule will bring injury and illness reporting into the 21st century through an efficient web-based mechanism that allows employers to upload information they’re already collecting,” Sokas said. “This rule does not impose any new recordkeeping responsibilities, but rather requires the information to be electronically transmitted. Personally identifiable information will not be collected by OSHA, so that should alleviate most of the privacy concerns.”

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Vernon Perry
May 27, 2016
Has Ms. Sprick ever looked at the OSHA 300A form? It shows average # of employees and hours worked. A smaller company will not be submitting their 300 log so there is no concern about privacy act infomation.

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Mike Barnett
May 27, 2016
My company falls in the category of one of the high-hazard categories. As such, I won't have to electronically submit since my company only has 18 employees, however, since I still have over 10 employees, I still have to fill out and post my Form 300 and 300A.

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Chris Campbell
May 31, 2016
The requirement to keep and post the annual log and summary should be sufficient for transparency. If OSHA wants that data, have them request it be sent by mail, fax, or scanned copy. We have to do enough recordkeeping for workers compensation and other requirements. As for OSHA's actions preventing injuries and illnesses, nonsense. OSHA has given employers additional incentive to prevent injuries and illnesses by publishing standards that are difficult to interpret without (and sometimes with) special training, that do not keep up very well with technology or scientific advances, and that require entirely too much time to enact. A better solution, which has been discussed and proposed from time to time since 1970, would be for a set of performance based standards that do not mandate specific performance criteria but that require employers to have functioning safety management systems. The federal safety role, then would be to set performance goals (such as injury rates coupled with hazard assessment and remediation programs) and target those businesses who lack in either area with consultative service. That could be made mandatory, but the current safety citation and "big brother" approach has done less to prevent injuries and illnesses than has the cost of workers compensation. The recent requirement to self report injuries is another "big brother" intrusion - what's next, an annual self-inspection to OSHA standards and self-reporting every violation, no matter how small?