OSHA Inspections to Target Certain Businesses with High Injury, Illness Rates

OSHA is launching the Site-Specific Targeting 2016 Program using injury and illness information electronically submitted by employers for calendar year 2016.

The program will target high injury rate establishments in both the manufacturing and nonmanufacturing sectors for inspections.

Under this program, OSHA will perform inspections of employers the agency believes should have provided Form 300A data, but did not for the 2016 injury and illness data collection.

For calendar year 2016, OSHA required employers to electronically submit Form 300A data by Dec. 15, 2017, although the agency eventually extended that deadline to Dec. 31, 2017.

The 2017 deadline was July 1, 2018; however, employers may still provide this information to the database.

Going forward, establishments with 250 or more employees that are currently required to keep OSHA injury and illness records, and establishments with 20–249 employees that are classified in 66 specific industries with historically high rates of occupational injuries and illnesses will be required to provide this information each year by March 2.

Rule Rollback

Last July, OSHA issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to remove provisions of the Obama-era electronic recordkeeping rule, Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses.
The proposed rule would amend OSHA’s recordkeeping regulation by rescinding the requirement for establishments with 250 or more employees that are required to routinely keep injury and illness records to electronically submit information from OSHA Forms 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) and 301 (Injury and Illness Incident Report).
However, OSHA will continue to require that those establishments electronically submit information from their Form 300A (Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses).
In a July 27 statement, OSHA said the proposed rule “maintains safety and health protections for workers, protects privacy, and reduces the burdens of complying with the current rule.”
The current Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses rule was finalized in May 2016.
In the proposed rule, OSHA expresses concern that the original rule put “sensitive worker information” at risk of “potential disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act” and that the rule is unjustifiably costly to the agency and burdensome to employers.
The comment period for the proposed rule ended Sept. 28.

OSHA’s On-site Consultation Program offers employers with up to 250 workers with free, confidential safety and health advice on complying with OSHA standards, and establishing and improving safety and health programs.