Starting with January 1st, 2017, a new rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will take effect. This works as an addition to the May 2016 rule that requires certain employers to electronically submit injury and illness data that they are already required to record on their Injury and Illness forms. The 2017 rule will basically make the injury reports available to the public. The amount of data submitted will vary depending on the size of company and type of industry.
The reasoning behind the rule
Improving the workers’ safety across the country is pretty much a given of the OSHA mission, but why the public shaming? Making something public usually acts as some sort of incentive. Here’s a little experiment that you can try out: make one of your personal objectives public to as many people as possible and see for yourself how much harder procrastination becomes when your honor is on the line. Most people have an acute phobia regarding public humiliation. When it comes to the matter of injuries, the OSHA reasoning is that behavioral economics tell us that “making injury information publicly available will ‘nudge’ employers to focus on safety.” There are plenty of examples so far that support this theory.
The regulation will improve the accuracy of this data by ensuring that workers will not fear retaliation for reporting injuries or illnesses. The rule actually prohibits employers from discouraging workers from reporting injuries or illnesses. Employers have to inform employees of their right to report work-related injuries and illnesses free from retaliation.
“An employer’s procedure for reporting work-related injuries and illnesses must be reasonable and not deter or discourage employees from reporting; and incorporates the existing statutory prohibition on retaliating against employees for reporting work-related injuries or illnesses,” according to the OSHA rule. “These provisions become effective August 10, 2016, but OSHA has delayed their enforcement until Nov. 1, 2016 in order to provide outreach to the regulated community.”
How the submission works
OSHA will provide a secure website that offers three options for data submission. First, users will be able to manually enter data into a webform. Second, users will be able to upload a CSV file to process single or multiple establishments at the same time. Last, users of automated recordkeeping systems will have the ability to transmit data electronically via an API (application programming interface). The site is scheduled to go live in February 2017.
Compliance schedule
The new reporting requirements will be phased in over two years:
Establishments with 250 or more employees in industries covered by the recordkeeping regulation must submit information from their 2016 Form 300A by July 1, 2017. These same employers will be required to submit information from all 2017 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 submit information from their 2016 Form 300A by July 1, 2017, and their 2017 Form 300A by July 1, 2018. Beginning in 2019 and every year thereafter, the information must be submitted by March 2.
OSHA State Plan states must adopt requirements that are substantially identical to the requirements in this final rule within 6 months after publication of this final rule.
