U.S. District Court Judge Sam A. Lindsay of the Northern District of Texas Dallas Division denied an injunction against the new injury and illness reporting rule from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration at the beginning of December 2016.
Since OSHA’s new rule is now in full effect, employers should ensure they are in compliance. The rule contains two main parts, so let’s dive into what’s expected of employers:
What’s in OSHA’s New Rule?
According to OSHA, the new rule will improve the tracking of workplace illnesses and injuries. The rule requires employers to electronically submit injury and illness information to OSHA. In the future, this data will be made available to the public to shed more light on workplace hazards.
How to Meet Electronic Submission Compliance
OSHA’s new rule has two conditions for submitting data electronically depending on the size of a business.
If a company employs 250 or more workers in 2017, it needs to submit Form 300A – Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses by July 1, 2017. Companies with 20 to 249 employees in one of these industries need to submit the same document by the July deadline as well.
To ensure accurate data is submitted by the July deadline, OSHA included an anti-retaliatory provision in the recordkeeping rule. In order to satisfy OSHA, companies may need to change reporting procedures to ensure they aren’t retaliatory.
How to Meet Anti-Retaliation Provision
OSHA believes employers may pressure workers to not file accident reports. In some cases, employees may even be threatened with termination.
OSHA’s rule contains three provisions companies must abide by:
- Employers may not retaliate against employees.
- Employers must inform workers of their right to report work-related injuries or illnesses.
- The procedure for reporting illnesses or injuries must be reasonable and must not deter employees from filing reports.
One policy area that might be seen as retaliatory is the post-accident drug test. While OSHA isn’t banning drug testing, it’s prohibiting the threat of a drug test to discourage accident or illness reporting. Post-accident drug tests should be limited only to instances where drugs likely caused an accident. For example, OSHA believes drug testing an employee reporting an allergic reaction to a bee sting isn’t reasonable, EHS Today explained.
Companies should review their post-accident drug test policy to ensure it isn’t seen as retaliatory. Current Compliance recommended organizations answer two questions:
- Does the policy require drug testing after any accident, small or large?
- Does the policy demand blanket testing of everyone involved in an accident?
If an employer answered “Yes” to those questions, they’ll need to revise their drug testing policy because it is susceptible to OSHA fines for being retaliatory.
OSHA’s recordkeeping rule still faces lawsuits by various industry groups such as the National Association of Home Builders, Safety + Health Magazine reported. But until the courts indicate otherwise, employers must comply with OSHA’s new rule.
Compliance includes updating recordkeeping procedures to meet reporting deadlines and ensuring there aren’t any retaliatory measures in place. Otherwise, employers risk being fined by OSHA.
Read more:
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