The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a proposed rule that would amend OSHA’s recordkeeping regulation by rescinding the requirement for establishments with 250 or more employees to electronically submit information from OSHA Forms 300 and 301. These establishments will continue to be required to submit information from their Form 300A summaries.

OSHA is issuing this rescission to protect sensitive worker information from potential disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The Administration believes that this proposal maintains safety and health protections for workers while also reducing the burden to employers of complying with the current rule.

OSHA’s recordkeeping regulation requires employers to collect a variety of information on occupational injuries and illnesses. Under the regulation, employers with more than 10 employees in most industries must keep those records at their establishments.

Employers covered by these rules must record each recordable employee injury and illness on an OSHA Form 300, the “Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses.” Covered employees must also prepare a supplementary OSHA Form 301, the “Injury and Illness Incident Report” to provide additional details about each case recorded on the OSHA Form 300. Finally, at the end of each year, these employers are required to prepare a summary report of all injuries and illnesses on the OSHA Form 300A, the “Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses,” and post the form in a visible location in the workplace. Form 301 in particular requires the collection of much sensitive information about each individual worker’s job-linked illness or injury, information an employer must collect with or without the worker’s consent.

In a May 2016 final rule, the recordkeeping regulation was revised to require establishments with 250 or more employees to electronically submit information from the OSHA Forms 300, 300A and 301 to OSHA annually. Establishments in certain industries with 20-249 employees are required only to electronically submit information from the OSHA Form 300A – the summary form. This proposed rule would amend OSHA’s recordkeeping regulation by rescinding the requirement for establishments with 250 or more employees to electronically submit information from the OSHA Forms 300 and 301 – the individual forms.

Under the current recordkeeping rule, the initial deadline for electronic submission of information from OSHA Forms 300 and 301 by covered establishments was July 1, 2018. However, OSHA will not enforce this deadline without further notice while this rulemaking is underway.

To read the proposed rule in its entirety, follow this link: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2018-07-30/pdf/2018-16059.pdf.