The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires certain employers to electronically submit injury and illness information that has been previously recorded on the onsite OSHA Injury and Illness forms. OSHA will provide a secure website that offers three different options for data entry. They include: manual data entry on a webform, uploading a CSV file, and transmitting data electronically via an API (application programming interface).
Within the legislation change are protections of anti-retaliation. The rule prohibits employers from discouraging their workers from reporting an illness or injury. Employers are now required to inform employees about their right to report work related injuries and illnesses free from retaliation. Posting the already-required OSHA workplace poster can simply satisfy the requirements. A link of the poster is provided here.
OSHA justifies the new requirements because it will improve workers' safety. By forcing employers to provide public injury information, they will take more care in creating a safe working environment, which should ultimately decrease the number of work place injuries. The new requirements will also improve the accuracy of workplace injury data, allowing OSHA to better protect employees on the job.
Firms with 250 or more employees in industries covered by recordkeeping regulation need to submit their 2016 Form 300A by July 1, 2017, and their 2017 Form 300A by July 1, 2018. After 2018 all information must be submitted before March 2. Firms with 20-249 employees in high-risk industries are required to submit their Form 300 A by the same dates. A link to all high-risk industries is provided here.
These changes take effect January 1, 2017, so be sure your HR staff is aware of the new 300A requirements. Stay tuned for more changes in the HR industry!
