Employers required to submit records to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) might have two fewer reports to submit.
Since 2016, OSHA has required certain employers to submit their OSHA 300 Logs, 301 Incident Reports, and 300A Annual Summaries. The rule is applicable to all employers with 250 or more employees, as well as certain other industries identified by OSHA as being especially hazardous. OSHA states that the reports assist the agency in evaluating the safety of a workplace, understanding hazards within industries, and implementing worker protections.
Previously, OSHA required all employers to submit these forms to a publicly available website. This meant that all information and data submitted via the three forms were available to anyone to use for any purpose. However, concerns were raised regarding the sensitivity of the information made publicly available under the rule.
On July 30, OSHA posted a notice in the Federal Register of a proposed rule change. Under the proposed rule, employers would no longer be required to submit OSHA 300 Logs, or 301 Incident Reports. OSHA states that it is amending its recordkeeping regulations to “protect sensitive work information from potential disclosure.” OSHA had originally hoped that the availability of the information would encourage employers to improve workplace safety. However, the cost of collecting the information and the risks of making it publicly available outweigh the benefits of having the information submitted by employers, according to OSHA.
Under the proposed rule, employers will still be required to submit OSHA Form 300A, which is an annual summary of all work-related injuries and deaths from the previous year. However, the 300A summaries do not contain the same sensitive information as OSHA 300 Logs or 301 incident reports, so they will remain publicly available.
Because the rule is only at the proposal stage, employers should continue to comply with the rule which went into effect in 2016 by continuing to keep track of workplace injuries via the 300 Logs and 301 Incident Reports.
For questions about this proposed Rule, contact attorney Grant Bacon (gbacon@fisheldowney.com) or Samantha McGuire (smcguire@fisheldowney.com) by email or phone (614) 221-1216.