OSHA Finalizes 2018 Submission Deadline For Electronic Reporting Of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses
ISSUE: In May of 2016, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued its final rule “Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses” to revise its existing recording and reporting regulation. The final rule requires certain employers to electronically submit to OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping data included on the 300A, 300, and 301 forms (except for those fields that contain personally identifiable information). Covered employers include those with 250 or more employees that are currently required to keep OSHA injury and illness records, as well as employers with 20 to 249 employees that are classified in certain industries, listed here, which include those with historically high rates of occupational injuries and illnesses.
As we previously reported, OSHA’s electronic reporting deadline faced several delays as the agency worked to finalize the rule and secure its online injury tracking application. OSHA has since finalized the electronic reporting deadline, and all covered employers must submit their workplace injury and illness information to OSHA by July 1, 2018.Covered employers with 250 or more employees are only required to provide their 2017 Form 300A summary data to OSHA’s Injury Tracking Application, which can be accessed here.
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IMPACT:
Employers should be aware that OSHA is not accepting Forms 300 and 301 information at this time. OSHA announced that it will issue a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to reconsider, revise, or remove provisions of the electronic reporting final rule, including the collection of the Forms 300 and 301 data.
OSHA has also specified that the following OSHA-approved State Plans have not yet adopted the requirement to submit injury and illness reports electronically: California, Maryland, Minnesota, South Carolina, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Therefore, employers in these states are not required to submit their summary data to OSHA.
Beginning in 2019 and every year thereafter, covered employers will be required to electronically submit their workplace injury and illness information to OSHA by March 2.
For more information on managing specific terms of employment agreements, please contact your local Quarles & Brady attorney or
- Fred Gants: (608) 283-2618 / fred.gants@quarles.com