In mid-May, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) finalized a rule to change the process and timeline for recordkeeping and reporting of annual injuries and illnesses at the workplace, as well as new standards for anti-retaliation by employers for employees reporting those injuries and illnesses. 

Specifically, the rule now requires:

1. Establishments with 250 or more employees at any time during the reporting year to electronically submit OSHA Form 300A (Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses), OSHA Form 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses), and OSHA Form 301 (Injury and Illness Incident Report) to OSHA or the appropriate OSHA designee;

2. Establishments with 20 to 249 employees to electronically submit OSHA Form 300A (Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) to OSHA or the appropriate OSHA designee;

3. Establishments with 19 or fewer employees only need to submit information from the injury and illness records to OSHA if OSHA requests it through an individual data collection;

4. Employers with more than 10 employees must still display the completed OSHA Form 300A in the workplace for all employees to see annually between February 1 and April 30;

5. Required reports to be submitted to OSHA electronically (submittal process will be through a designated secure website, still yet to be completed); and

6. Electronic submission deadlines for:

         a. 2017: For the establishments now required to submit, their respective forms are due to OSHA no later than July 1;

         b. 2018: For the establishments now required to submit, their respective forms are due to OSHA no later than July 1; and

          c. 2019 and beyond: For the establishments now required to submit, their respective forms are due to OSHA no later than March 2.

As well, the second portion of the new rule states, "The rule also prohibits employers from discouraging workers from reporting an injury or illness. The final rule requires employers to inform employees of their right to report work-related injuries and illnesses free from retaliation; clarifies the existing implicit requirement that an employer’s procedure for reporting work-related injuries and illnesses must be reasonable and not deter or discourage employees from reporting; and incorporates the existing statutory prohibition on retaliating against employees for reporting work-related injuries or illnesses." This "anti-retaliation" provision, as OSHA has labeled it, originally held an effective date of August 10; however, in order to coordinate more "outreach to the regulated community" about the provision, the effective date was pushed until November 1. OSHA now has pushed that effective date to Thursday, December 1.