In 2016, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) amended its recordkeeping rule to require that certain establishments electronically submit their illness and injury records annually, beginning in 2017. For the first year, covered establishments were only required to submit their OSHA Form 300A. The next round of submissions is due on July 1, 2018 and, in addition to the OSHA 300As, would have included the submission of OSHA 300 Logs and OSHA 301 Incident Reports for certain covered establishments.

OSHA, however, is not accepting OSHA 300 Logs and OSHA 301 Incident Reports on its portal at this time. Therefore, OSHA has effectively changed the requirement for 2018: covered establishments need only submit their OSHA 300A forms by the July 1, 2018 due date.

Who Must Submit?

Under the new requirement, the following entities must submit their OSHA Form 300A by July 1:

1. establishments with 250 or more employees currently required to keep OSHA injury and illness records; and

2. establishments with 20-249 employees classified in certain industries with historically high rates of occupational injuries and illnesses.

This includes establishments in states with their own occupational safety and health agency (State Plan). On April 30, 2018, federal OSHA posted a trade release requiring all employers covered by a State Plan to comply with the electronic submission requirements, even if the employer is covered by a State Plan that has not completed adoption of its own state rule.

Remember, the OSHA Form 300A must be certified by a company executive—meaning an owner of the company if it is a sole proprietorship or partnership, an officer of the corporation, the highest ranking company official working at the establishment, or the immediate supervisor of the highest ranking company official working at the establishment.

Future Due Dates

Under the rule, the electronic filing requirements and submission dates for 2018 and beyond are as follows:

• On or before July 1, 2018: (1) Covered establishments with 250 or more employees must file their OSHA 300 Logs, OSHA 301 Incident Reports, and OSHA Form 300As for calendar year 2017. (2) Covered establishments with 20 to 249 employees must file their OSHA Form 300As for calendar year 2017.

• Beginning in 2019, on or before March 2 of every year: (1) Covered establishments with 250 or more employees must file their OSHA 300 Logs, OSHA 301 Incident Reports, and OSHA Form 300As for the prior calendar year. (2) Covered establishments with 20 to 249 employees must file their OSHA 300As for the prior calendar year.

The requirement for establishments with 250 or more employees to submit OSHA 300 Logs and OSHA 301 Incident Reports is now under review. On its website, OSHA has “announced that it will issue a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to reconsider, revise, or remove provisions of the ‘Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses’ final rule, including the collection of the Forms 300/301 data. The Agency is currently drafting that NPRM and will seek comment on those provisions.”  OSHA’s Injury Tracking Application portal includes more information about the upcoming changes.