Weekly Newsletter: New OSHA Recordkeeping Law Simplified

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What Does OSHA Hope to Gain From the Final Recordkeeping/Anti-Retaliation Law?

Osha believes that electronic submission of establishment-specific injury and illness data will enable the agency to use its enforcement and compliance assistance resources more efficiently. They believe quicker analysis of the data will improve their ability to identify, target, and remove safety and health hazards, thereby preventing workplace injuries, illnesses, and deaths.

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What Will This Process Look Like for My Business?

Is the Website Up & Running Yet? We do NOT currently have any access to this website at this time. We will make our clients aware once this is available.  What we know is OSHA will provide a secure website for the electronic submission of information. The website will include web forms for direct data entryand instructions for other means of submission (e.g. file uploads).

20-249 Employees; How Long Will it Take to Complete?  Establishments with 20-249 employees, OSHA estimates that it will take a typical employer about 10 minutes to create an account and another 10 minutes to enter the required information from the Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses (Form 300A). (Approximately 20-30 minutes total.)

250 or More Employees: How Long Will it Take to Complete?  Establishments with 250 or more employees, OSHA estimates that it will take a typical employer about 10 minutes to create an account, 10 minutes to enter the required information from the Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses (Form 300A), and 12 minutes to enter the required information for each injury or illness recorded on their Log and Injury and Illness Incident Report forms (Forms 300 and 301). Yes, these are their very precise calculations... We shall see how accurate that is.  (The total time will vary depending on the number of injuries & illnesses you must record).

Can I Still Submit Paper Records?  No, establishments must submit the information electronically and may not submit the information on paper. Employers who do not have the necessary equipment or internet connection may submit their data from a public facility, such as a library. OSHA also intends to provide an interface for entering data from a mobile device.

When Must I Submit My First Electronic Document? 
The final rule takes effect Jan. 1, 2017, (this does NOT mean they are due January 1) and reporting requirements will be phased in over two years, as follows: (Lock these into your work calendar's!)

Establishments with 250 or more employees must begin submitting information from Form 300A by July 1, 2017, and must submit information from all forms (300A, 300, and 301) by July 1, 2018. Beginning in 2019 and every year thereafter, the information must be submitted by March 2.

Establishments with 20-249 employees in certain high-risk industries must begin submitting information from Form 300A by July 1, 2017, and again by July 1, 2018. Beginning in 2019 and every year thereafter, the information must be submitted by March 2.

How Does OSHA Define "Establishment" When My Organization Has Multiple Locations? The electronic reporting requirements are based on the size of the establishment, not the firm. The OSHA injury and illness records are maintained at the establishment level. An establishment is defined as a single physical location where business is conducted or where services or industrial operations are performed. A firm may be comprised of one or more establishments. To determine if you need to provide OSHA with the required data for an establishment, you need to determine the establishment's peak employment during the last calendar year. Each individual employed in the establishment at any time during the calendar year counts as one employee, including full-time, part-time, seasonal, and temporary workers.

As always, please reach out to us at SSG with any questions you might have regarding this new Recordkeeping/Anti-Retaliation Law.  We'll be happy to answer any questions you might have.  

-Jake Woolfenden
Summit Safety Group