OSHA Delays Deadline on New Online Injury/Illness Reporting

Last week, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) quietly announced it will be moving to extend the deadline for when companies need to electronically submit to OSHA their 300A forms. Originally, this data would need to have been submitted to OSHA by July 1, 2017; however, the Web site needed to do so has not been released yet, in part, prompting the need to extend the deadline. Despite the extension being announced, OSHA has not indicated what the new deadline will be. Specifically, the new language on OSHA’s Web site states, "OSHA is not accepting electronic submissions of injury and illness logs at this time, and intends to propose extending the July 1, 2017 date by which certain employers are required to submit the information from their completed 2016 Form 300A electronically. Updates will be posted to this webpage when they are available."

This new requirement is the product of regulations finalized on May 12, 2016 that imposed requirements beyond companies filling out and posting their 300A forms at their respective workplaces. The new rule, known as the "Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses" rule, also requires companies to establish new anti-retaliation programs and for company facilities with 20-249 employees to submit their 2016 Form 300A by July 1, 2017, and their 2017 Form 300A by July 1, 2018 and then beginning in 2019 and every year thereafter, the information would be submitted by March 2.