Coming soon Employers required to e-submit Forms 300, 301?
OSHA intends to issue a proposal to amend its recordkeeping regulation to restore the requirement to electronically submit information from the Form 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) and Form 301 (Injury and Illness Incident Report) for establishments with 250 or more employees which are required to routinely keep injury and illness records. As a first step, the agency has sent its electronic recordkeeping rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review.
Under the current regulation, these establishments are only required to electronically submit information from the OSHA Form 300A (Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses).
OMB generally takes 90 to 120 days to review. According to its Spring agenda, OSHA had hoped to issue the proposed rule by December 2021.
Restoring the original rule
When OSHA originally issued the requirement for certain establishments to electronically submit injury and illness records, it included Forms 300, 301, and 300A. However, in 2019 OSHA rescinded the portion of the electronic injury and illness data submission rule that required establishments with 250 or more workers to submit their Forms 300 and Forms 301, in addition to the Form 300A data that the rest of covered employers must submit.
While OSHA never actually accepted the Form 300 and 301 data, it remained the requirement until February 2019, when the agency rescinded it, amid much controversy, for “privacy” reasons.
OSHA said the benefits of collecting the Forms 300 and 301 was outweighed by the privacy risk that could publicly expose personally identifiable information from workers. The agency believed it could fulfill its targeted enforcement program by simply collecting the Form 300A summary data.
New OSHA, new view
When the administration changed hands early this year, it signaled a return to the view of OSHA held by the Obama administration for eight years, which was heavy on enforcement and rulemaking. This was also when the original e-reporting rule was conceived and finalized (2016). When restored, the rule will likely once again be challenged in courts, as was the original rule. But establishments with 250 or more workers should keep a close eye on this rulemaking.
