Newsday reported on Friday, October 8, 2016 of a fatal accident on a job site, killing a worker at an industrial facility on Long Island. Tragic stories like this remind us of how important it is for everyone to remain vigilant about safety in the workplace.
Employers and business owners know that they must report fatal accidents, injuries, and/or job-related medical illnesses to OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 29 CFR 1904. Often, injuries or illnesses are not being reported by either employers or employees. Employers don’t want to hurt their company’s image or attract countless OSHA inspections. Employees, even those that suffer injuries, may not report violations in fear of retaliation from employers, keeping themselves and their coworkers at risk.
In order to both improve the accuracy of accidents reported and to improve safety of workers, OSHA recently established a new rule that requires certain employers to electronically submit injury and illness data, as summarized below. This rule is effective on January 1, 2017. Depending on the company’s size and type of industry, commercial, industrial and manufacturing establishments are required to post an OSHA workplace poster and file their information electronically, using Forms 300A, 300 and/or 301.
Various high-risk industrial establishments with 20 to 249 employees shall file their electronic submission of 2016 Form 300A by July 1, 2017. The Form 300A for 2017 shall be submitted by July 1, 2018. And starting in 2019, and every year thereafter, the data of the past year shall be submitted by March 2nd.
Establishments with 250 or more employees in the industries covered by the OSHA record keeping regulation shall file their electronic submissions of 2016 Form 300A by July 1, 2017. These employers will be required to submit their 2017 Forms 300A, 300 and 301 by July 1, 2018. And starting in 2019 and every year thereafter, the data of the past year shall be submitted by March 2nd.
Employers of companies that are not on the list of certain exempt low-risk industries and have more than 10 employees, are required to keep a record of serious work-related injuries and illnesses. Employers with 10 or fewer employees and business establishments in certain industry classifications are partially exempt from keeping OSHA injury and illness records, unless OSHA requests it in writing.
Please give Walden a call at (516) 624-7200 if you have any questions, or you would like to know further about how to keep your employees safe in the workplace.