OSHA Proposes to Rescind Electronic Reporting Requirements

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to rescind the majority of controversial electronic reporting requirements.

In May 2016, OSHA issued a final rule requiring employers with 250 or more employees to submit electronically information from Forms 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses), 300A (Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) and 301 (Injury and Illness Incident Report). In addition, employers with 20-249 employees in specifically-identified industries with historically high rates of workplace injuries and illnesses are required to submit electronically information from Form 300A. This electronic reporting requirement was originally to begin in July 2017, but was subject to several delays, and then a May 2018 announcement by OSHA that it would not accept the submission of Forms 300 and 301; Form 300A was required to have been submitted by July 1, 2018.

In its NPRM, OSHA proposes to rescind the requirement for larger employers to electronically submit Forms 300 and 301. OSHA seeks comment on its NPRM, particularly its empact on worker privacy (the forms required reporting on individual workers’ injuries and illnesses), as well as its proposal to require covered employers to submit their Employer Identification Number (EIN) with their data submission.

There will be a 60-day notice and comment period from July 30. You may submit comments electronically by clicking on the “Submit a Formal Comment” button on the Federal Register webpage for the proposed rule. It is unclear when OSHA will subsequently issue the final rule.