OSHA Not Currently Accepting Electronic Submissions of Illness and Injury Logs

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has announced that it is not accepting electronic submissions of injury and illness logs at this time. As a result, OSHA intends to propose extending the July 1, 2017 date by which certain employers are required to submit their completed 2016 Forms 300A electronically. These employers include establishments with 250 or more employees in industries covered by OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements, as well as establishments with 20-249 employees in certain high-risk industries.

Background
A new rule, generally effective as of January 1, 2017, requires certain employers to electronically submit injury and illness data to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that they are already required to record on their OSHA injury and illness forms, as follows:

• Establishments with 250 or more employees in industries covered by OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements must submit information from their 2016 Forms 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, the information must be submitted by March 2.
• Establishments with 20-249 employees in certain high-risk industries must submit information from their 2016 Forms 300A by July 1, 2017, and their 2017 Forms 300A by July 1, 2018. Beginning in 2019, the information must be submitted by March 2.
• Establishments with fewer than 20 employees at all times during the year do not have to routinely submit information electronically to OSHA (however, employers with more than 10 employees and whose establishments are not classified as a partially exempt industry must otherwise comply with applicable OSHA recordkeeping provisions).

Click here to read OSHA’s announcement.