OSHA – 5-Year Injury Recording Rule

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued a final rule that reaffirms the requirement for employers to make records of workplace injuries and maintain such records for five years following the injury. This longstanding recordkeeping requirement had been called into question by a 2012 federal case, AKM LLC v. Secretary of Labor, and OSHA states that the final rule is intended to clarify this obligation. Specifically, the duty to record an injury or illness continues for the entire mandatory recordkeeping period (i.e. 5 years after the calendar year in which the injury or illness becomes recordable), and it does not lapse simply because the employer initially failed to record the case when first required to do so. The rule, which adds no new compliance obligations, takes effect on January 18, 2017.