California to employers: Submit Form 300A data to federal OSHA website

Oakland, CA — Certain employers in California must comply with OSHA’s electronic recordkeeping rule and submit their Form 300A data online to the federal agency.

California’s Department of Occupational Safety and Health, also known as Cal/OSHA, issued a notice of emergency regulation Oct. 18, and the state’s Office of Administrative Law approved it Nov. 1.

Organizations with 250 or more employees – unless exempted by law – and employers with 20 to 249 employees in certain industries with historically high occupational injury and illness rates must submit their summary of recordable workplace injuries and illnesses for calendar year 2017 by Dec. 31.

On April 30, OSHA announced that employers in the seven states that, at the time, did not have electronic reporting regulations (including California) were required to submit their 2017 injury and illness data. The agency cited Section 18(c)(7) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Some states, however, took issue with that mandate.

In a special announcement issued May 1, Washington’s Department of Labor & Industries stated that it expected to adopt reporting regulations by the end of the year, and that employers in the state have the option to provide information voluntarily to federal OSHA.

A statement from the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said employers “are under no legal obligation to register and/or submit their OSHA 300 information to OSHA via OSHA’s Injury Tracking Application (ITA). Additionally, the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Agency is not accepting OSHA 300 log data at this time.”

Wyoming stated that “electronic reporting requirement does not apply to Wyoming OSHA covered employers.”

Minnesota’s recordkeeping regulation went into effect May 21, and South Carolina adopted its regulation May 25 – with an effective date of Nov. 25. Utah adopted its recordkeeping rule Oct. 12.

California had advised its affected employers to comply with the directive even though the state had not adopted its own rule. The deadline for 2018 Form 300A data moves to March 2 beginning next year.

For more information on submitting data, go to OSHA’s Injury Tracking Application at osha.gov/injuryreporting.