New OSHA Recordkeeping Rule Takes Effect January 1, 2002

By Tony Miller

OSHA's new recordkeeping rule takes effect January 1, 2002. OSHA predicts the new rule will affect approximately 1.3 million establishments. According to OSHA, the new rule will improve employee involvement in safety-related issues, give employers more flexibility to use computers to meet OSHA requirements, and simplify recordkeeping forms and procedures. All employers with more than ten employees must comply with the new rule's requirements.

Here are some highlights of OSHA's new recordkeeping rule:

The new rule:

• Updates and simplifies two existing recordkeeping forms and introduces a third form:

  • The OSHA 200 log is replaced with the new OSHA 300 form. The OSHA 300 form simplifies the OSHA 200 log and is printed on smaller, legal-sized paper.

  • The OSHA 101 form is replaced with the new OSHA 301 form. OSHA's new 301 form includes more data about how the individual injury or illness occurred.

  • The new rule introduces the OSHA 300A form. Employers are required to use this form to summarize work-related injuries and illnesses so that it is easier to calculate incidents rates.

• Requires employers' records to include any work-related injury or illness resulting in one or more of the following:

  • Death;

  • Days away from work;

  • Restricted work or transfer to another job;

  • Medical treatment beyond first aid;

  • Loss of consciousness; or

  • Diagnosis of a significant injury or illness by a physician or other licensed healthcare provider.

• Includes definitions of medical treatment, first aid, and restricted work to help employers make recording decisions.

• Requires a significant degree of aggravation of a pre-existing injury before such aggravation must be recorded.

• Includes new exceptions to the definition of work relationship so that some cases involving eating and drinking of food and beverages, common colds, flu, blood donations, and mental illness may not be recordable.

• Clarifies the need to record light-duty or restricted-work cases. The new rule requires employers to record incidents when an employee is restricted from his or her normal duties.

• Focuses on employee hearing loss by requiring employers to record standard threshold shifts in their employees' hearing. The new OSHA 300 form has a separate column to record data relating to employee hearing loss.

• Replaces the term "lost work days" with the term "days away" or "restricted" or "transferred." As part of this revision, the new rule requires employers to count calendar days rather than workdays when calculating "days away" or "restricted" or "transferred" days.

• Protects employees' privacy. For example, employers are prohibited from entering an employee's name on an OSHA 300 form for sensitive injuries or illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, mental illness, and sexual assaults.

• Makes no distinction between injuries and illnesses. The old rule had separate criteria for work-related injuries and work-related illnesses.

• Requires the annual summary of injuries and illnesses to be posted for three months. The old rule required the annual summary to be posted for one month.

• Requires a company executive to certify the annual summary of injuries and illnesses. Under the old rule, the designated record keeper was responsible for recording inaccuracies. This change makes the company executive responsible for any inaccuracies in recording injuries or illnesses.

While most of the new recordkeeping regulation will go into effect on schedule, the U.S. Department of Labor will seek comment on two proposed changes to the recordkeeping requirements. The Department will propose that the criteria for recording work-related hearing loss not be implemented for at least one year pending further investigation into the level of hearing loss that should be recorded. In addition, the Department will propose a one year delay in the recordkeeping rule's definition of a "musculoskeletal disorder" and the requirement that the employer record musculoskeletal disorders on the 300 log. This proposed delay is in light of the Labor Department's intention to develop a comprehensive ergonomics program.