Dept. of Labor to require expanded submission of injury, illness data

The U.S. Department of Labor is issuing a new final rule expanding the submission requirements for injury and illness data in high-hazard industries.

The U.S. Department of Labor announced a final rule that will expand the submission requirements for employers with 100 or more employees in designated high-hazard industries – such as construction – to report injury and illness information to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

The final rule will take effect on Jan. 1, 2024.

The expanded submission requirements state that large employers in high-hazard industries must electronically submit information from their Form 300-Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, and Form 301-Injury and Illness Incident Report to OSHA once a year.

These submissions are in addition to the submission of Form 300A-Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, according to the Department of Labor, and companies are required to use their legal company name on the electronic submissions.

OSHA will publish some of the data on its website to allow employers, employees, potential employees, employee representatives, current and potential customers, researchers and the general public to use the information about a company’s workplace safety and health record to make informed decisions.

According to OSHA, providing public access to this data will reduce occupational injuries and illnesses.

“Congress intended for the Occupational Safety and Health Act to include reporting procedures that would provide the agency and the public with an understanding of the safety and health problems workers face, and this rule is a big step in finally realizing that objective,” said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker. “OSHA will use [this] data to intervene through strategic outreach and enforcement to reduce worker injuries and illnesses in high-hazard industries. The safety and health community will benefit from the insights this information will provide at the industry level while workers and employers will be able to make more informed decisions about their workplace’s safety and health.”

The final rule will maintain the current requirements for electronic submission of information from Form 300A from establishments with 20-249 employees in certain high-hazard industries and from establishments with 250 or more employees in industries that must keep OSHA injury and illness records.

This final rule announcement follows propositions from March 2022 to amend regulations for requiring specific establishments in certain high-hazard industries to submit information electronically from their Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, as well as their Injury and Illness Incident Report.