What Does OSHA’s Record Keeping Update Say?

To keep up with an ever-evolving professional landscape where businesses and work environments of all types experience constant change, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will regularly update its stipulations. Starting January 1^st, 2024, an update to their illness and injury recordkeeping requirements will take effect.

Illness and injury are already supposed to be reported by high-hazard industries. Form 300A is a yearly summary showing what illnesses and/or injuries occurred while on the job. This should be visible to workers for a period of three months (February-April) and be available should any worker ask for it.

What does the OSHA update say?

While certain low-risk industries are exempt from this reporting requirement, many employers with at least 10 employees are required to keep a record of serious work-related injuries and illnesses. The information provided from these reports helps everyone evaluate the safety of a workplace, determine the common hazards that might exist, and prevent these same injuries from happening again.

The OSHA recordkeeping update for 2024 says that, “establishments with 100 or more employees in certain 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.” Companies are also required to include their full legal name in electronic filings, so that data quality can remain high.

OSHA says that an injury must be reported in the case of:

• any work-related fatality.
• any work-related injury or illness that results in loss of consciousness, days away from work, restricted work, or transfer to another job.
• any work-related injury or illness requiring medical treatment beyond first aid.
• any work-related diagnosed case of cancer, chronic irreversible diseases, fractured or cracked bones or teeth, and punctured eardrums.

Injuries that involve hearing loss, chemical exposure, or a cut from a sharp object that might be contaminated have to be reported as well.

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What are high hazard industries?

Some industries carry a higher risk, and therefore higher likelihood, of injury. Businesses that mainly offer desk jobs, such as sales, content marketing, or data entry are generally exempt from adhering to OSHA's injury and illness reporting requirements, depending on the number of employees. But those in construction, transportation, or agriculture must follow the new update. (This isn't an exhaustive list of industries, just the three with the highest fatality rate.

OSHA will publish some of the data it collects in these forms so that everyone can be aware of a company’s workplace safety conditions. The final rule retains 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 routinely keep OSHA injury and illness records.