Employers who meet certain size and industry requirements have until March 2, 2024 to electronically submit occupational injury and illness data from their Form 300A Annual Summary for 2023 to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”). In addition, a Final Rule issued last July requires employers with establishments with 100 or more employees in certain “high-hazard industries” to also submit information from their Form 300 Log and Form 301 Injury and Illness Incident Report by March 2. Additional information outlining the submission process and qualifying employers is detailed below.

1. Background

Most employers must complete and maintain the following three OSHA forms related to recording occupational injuries and illnesses:

• OSHA Form 300 – Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses
• OSHA Form 300A – Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses
• OSHA Form 301 – Injury and Illness Incident Report

The only employers who are exempt from this requirement are: (1) employers with ten or less employees during the last calendar year and (2) employers in certain low-risk industries, such as schools, certain professional service firms (legal and accounting), real estate and insurance agencies, and certain retail stores. 

OSHA’s regulations require employers to enter each recordable injury or illness on the above forms within seven calendar days of receiving information that a recordable injury or illness occurred. Employers must maintain a separate Form 300 Log for each “establishment” that is expected to be in operation for one year or longer. OSHA’s regulations define an “establishment” as a “single physical location where business is conducted or where services or industrial operations are performed.” Each year, the Form 300A Summary for the prior year must be posted in a visible and easily accessible area at each establishment from February 1 through April 30. 

2. Electronic Submission Requirements for Certain Employers

In addition to complying with the above posting requirement, employer establishments with more than 250 employees and establishments with 20-249 employees in certain high-hazard industries (e.g., agriculture, construction, manufacturing) must electronically submit certain data to OSHA by March 2 each year. Prior to this year, the submission was limited to the establishment’s OSHA Form 300A Summary.

On July 21, 2023, OSHA published a Final Rule requiring establishments in high-hazard industries with 100 or more employees (at any point during the prior year) to also submit information from their Form 300 Log and Form 301 Injury and Illness Incident Report. The Final Rule also requires that employers include their legal company name when electronically submitting the forms. Because states with State Plans approved by OSHA (such as California) must promulgate occupational injury and illness recording and reporting requirements that are substantially identical to those in OSHA regulations, the Final Rule also applies to employers in states with State Plans. 

OSHA stated that it will use the data to help the agency identify employer establishments with specific hazards, which will enable OSHA “to interact directly with the establishments, through enforcement and/or outreach activities, to address and abate the hazards and improve worker safety and health.” OSHA further stated that because the data will be publicly accessible, it “will allow employers, employees, potential employees, employee representatives, customers, potential customers, and the general public to make more informed decisions about workplace safety and health at a given establishment.” 

Employers can submit the data three different ways via OSHA’s Injury Tracking Application (“ITA”):

• Manually;
• By uploading a CSV (comma-separated values) file to add multiple establishments at the same time; or
• Via an application programming interface.

Notably, OSHA guidance states that the only personally identifiable information (“PII”) that employers should include are the employee’s date of birth (which will be automatically converted to an age before the data is published); job title; date hired; and gender.

3. Main Takeaways

Employers who have not already submitted their data electronically should ensure they do so by March 2. Because the above electronic submission requirements are based on an employer’s establishment (i.e., specific worksite locations), employers with multiple worksites should consider the number of employees and industry classification for each site to determine whether they are required to comply. To assist employers with that determination, OSHA created an ITA Coverage Application. Employers with any questions or concerns about compliance should consult with experienced employment law counsel.

This article is not an unequivocal statement of the law, but instead offers some potential issues to consider with counsel. This is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice and is not intended to form an attorney-client relationship.