OSHA Reporting Portal Hacked

Written on August 29, 2017.

As if employers were not already uncomfortable enough with electronically filing the OSHA Form 300A, which summarizes incident causes and the number on-the-job deaths, injuries, and illnesses, now we find out that the OSHA portal has been hacked. On August 14, the Department of Homeland Security notified the Department of Labor that there was a "potential compromise of user information" submitted to the website. The site was closed pending a review of security issues. So far, the hacker has not been identified.

The site has now reopened. However, employers should wonder how secure their data will be once uploaded to the site.

As we noted in a previous post, OSHA launched the Injury Tracking Application on Aug. 1, 2017, but the deadline for designated employers to electronically submit 2016 Form 300A has been pushed back to Dec. 1, 2017. Therefore, while those employers who are required to electronically file their OSHA 300As on December 1 should prepare to do so, it seems prudent to wait until we get much closer to that deadline to electronically file anything so the DOL can work out the problems with the portal and (hopefully) make it more secure.

Kathleen J. Jennings

Former Principal

Kathleen J. Jennings is a former principal in the Atlanta office of Wimberly, Lawson, Steckel, Schneider, & Stine, P.C. She defends employers in employment matters, such as sexual harassment, discrimination, Wage and Hour, OSHA, restrictive covenants, and other employment litigation and provides training and counseling to employers in employment matters.