OSHA Injury and Illness Reports Due

March is here and for many businesses, that means it’s time to get those 2023 injury and illness reports submitted to OSHA. Find out if you are required to submit data here: ITA Coverage Application | Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha.gov). As we reported back in November, OSHA has recently updated the recordkeeping rules. The new rules went into effect January 1, 2024 and the final rule is available on OSHA’s website.

Under the new rules, establishments with 100 or more employees in certain high-hazard industries are still required to submit Form 300A annual summary and must now submit Forms 300 and 301. Form 300 is simply a log of injuries and illnesses. However, Form 301 includes incident reports for each corresponding entry.

The previous requirements for electronic submission of Form 300A Annual Summary from establishments with 20-249 employees in certain high-hazard industries and establishments with 250 or more employees in industries that must routinely keep OSHA injury and illness records are still in effect.

Benefits of the New Requirements

Benefits to OSHA:

• Access to establishment specific, case-specific injury and illness data will help the agency identify establishments with specific hazards.
• This will enable the agency to interact directly with these establishments, through enforcement and/or outreach activities, to address and abate the hazards and improve worker safety and health.
• These same data will also allow OSHA to better analyze injury trends related to specific industries, processes or hazards.
• The collection and publication of data from Forms 300 and 301 will not only increase the amount of information available for analysis but will also result in more accurate statistics regarding work-related injuries and illnesses, including more detailed statistics on injuries and illnesses for specific occupations and industries.

Benefits to interested parties:

• Public access to establishment-specific, case-specific injury and illness data will allow employers, employees, potential employees, employee representatives, customers, potential customers, and the general public to make more informed decisions about workplace safety and health at a given establishment.
• In addition, researchers will be better able to identify patterns of injuries, illnesses, and hazardous conditions in workplaces.
• OSHA believes this access will ultimately result in the reduction of occupational injuries and illnesses.

Keeping Workers Identity Secure

OSHA will make most of the data submitted under these new requirements available to the public. Additionally, OSHA will take multiple steps to protect the identity of injured or ill workers, including:

• OSHA will not collect worker names and addresses
• OSHA will convert birth dates to age and discard birth dates
• OSHA will remind employers not to submit information that could directly identify workers, such as names, addresses, telephone numbers
• OSHA will withhold from publication the information on age, gender & date hired
• OSHA will withhold from publication whether the worker was treated in an emergency room and/or hospitalized overnight as an in-patient
• OSHA will use automated information technology to detect and remove any remaining information that could directly identify workers

Maintaining Compliance with OSHA Reporting Requirements

Keeping up with OSHA reporting requirements is a key component of responsible business management. It is every employer’s duty to ensure that they abide by these regulations, for the well-being of their workforce and for the sake of compliance. Ultimately, OSHA’s stringent standards are in place to ensure workplace incidents are reported and analyzed to prevent future occurrences.  

It is absolutely vital for employers to take the necessary steps to understand and implement OSHA’s reporting requirements. Compliance with these requirements is essential, and failing to do so can lead to severe consequences. Further, neglecting proper reporting can compromise the health and safety of your employees. 

At National Safety Compliance , we recognize the importance of OSHA compliance and provide valuable resources to assist employers in meeting these requirements. These resources include comprehensive training materials designed to help employers, managers, and supervisors understand and fulfill OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements. Our OSHA Recordkeeping for Managers and Supervisors course offers a thorough training program to equip employers and their staff with the knowledge necessary to ensure full OSHA recordkeeping compliance.