The Occupational Safety and Health Administration plans to restore an Obama-era requirement that employers submit their annual OSHA 300 logs and OSHA 301 reports electronically.
An Obama-era rule required employers to submit all OSHA forms via an electronic reporting portal. Under Trump, electronic submission was confined to Form 300As (and not the full 300 logs) for firms with 250 or more employees, and those with 20-249 employees in industries with historically high rates of injuries and illnesses.
OSHA proposes restoring the requirement to electronically submit Form 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) and Form 301 (Injury and Illness Incident Report) for any employer with 250 or more employees.
OSHA State Plan agencies will be required to do the same. Under the current rules, these employers are only required to electronically submit information from the OSHA Form 300A (Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) annually.
Since creation of the electronic reporting rule under Obama, OSHA has cited employers who failed to upload their information, note attorneys for the law firm of Seyfarth Shaw.
“This enhanced submission rule will create a tremendous administrative burden on employers, and the fluid requirements will create additional confusion and unintentional noncompliance,” the attorneys point out.
The injury data also will be available online, accessible to competitors, labor unions and employees, the attorneys stress. “Employee-centered interests groups are also likely to weaponize the publication of work injury and illness data for use in organizing campaigns or to submit complaints to OSHA.”
OSHA also is expected to use the data to issue warning letters, conduct inspections, and target employers if they have injury and illness rates above their industry average.
