OSHA Delays Electronic Reporting Yet Again

In a notice published in the Federal Register last week, OSHA announced that the submission deadline for calendar year 2016 data on Form 300A under the rule entitled Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses has been delayed until December 15, 2017, instead of December 1. According to OSHA, this delay will allow affected entities sufficient time to familiarize themselves with the electronic reporting system, which was not made available until August 1, 2017. OSHA has determined that the additional two-week delay to December 15, 2017 will help the Agency avoid further delays by ensuring that its electronic reporting system functions properly.

OSHA also states that it intends to issue a separate proposal to reconsider, revise, or remove other provisions of the prior final rule and to seek comment on those provisions in that separate proposal; this final rule only delays the compliance date to submit employers' 2016 Form 300A data. The separate rulemaking will afford OSHA the time necessary to give full reconsideration to substantive issues concerning the May 6, 2016, final rule. However, it gave no indication of which parts of the final rule it intends to change.

As we discussed in a previous post, the following employers must electronically submit information to OSHA by whatever deadline OSHA finally settles upon:

• Establishments with at least 250 workers must electronically submit data from OSHA forms 300, 300A and 301 annually.
• Establishments with 20 to 249 employees that conduct work in industries that OSHA considers "highly hazardous" must electronically submit to OSHA information from form 300A annually. These "high risk" industries include construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, healthcare, utilities, agriculture, forestry, and more.

We recommend that those employers be prepared for some form of electronic reporting. We will continue to provide updates on this issue.