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Some Large Employers Now Required to Submit Form 300 and 301 Information to OSHA
OSHA’s recordkeeping regulations generally require employers to record employee work-related injuries or illnesses that result in “death, days away from work, restricted work or transfer to another job, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness . . . . [or] a significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional . . . .” 29 C.F.R. § 1904.7. Employers must record this information using certain OSHA forms (or employer-generated forms that have the same information): OSHA Form 300, the Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses; OSHA Form 300A, the Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses; OSHA Form 301, the Injury and Illness Incident Report. 29 C.F.R. § 1904.29.
Following an amendment to the recordkeeping regulations, as of January 1, 2024, establishments with 100 or more employees in designated high-risk industries must electronically submit most information on Forms 300 and 301 to OSHA. 29 C.F.R. § 1904.41(a)(2).
The deadline is March 2 of the year after the calendar year covered by the form(s), meaning injury records from 2023 must be submitted to OSHA three weeks from now, by March 2, 2024. 29 C.F.R. § 1904.41(c). In the July 21, 2023 Final Rule, which finalized the amendment, OSHA stated that it will “post the collected establishment-specific, case-specific injury and illness information online,” and OSHA intends to make this information easily searchable by the general public.
Prior to this amendment many establishments had already been required to submit their Form 300A information. 29 C.F.R. § 1904.41(a)(1). But Form 300A only includes generic information about a facility, including the number of employees and injury statistics, e.g. total days away from work at a facility. Forms 300 and 301 are far more detailed and include specific injury information, such as the nature of an injury and why and where it occurred.
The 100-employee criterion in the new regulation means 100 or more employees were employed at one establishment at any time in the prior calendar year, including all full-time, part-time, temporary, and seasonal employees. 29 C.F.R. § 1904.41(b)(1)-(2). The industries subject to the regulation are listed in Appendix B to Subpart E of Part 1904. In the Final Rule, OSHA explained that it selected the industries it considers to be the “most hazardous” based on various metrics, including fatality rates. They include Plastics Product Manufacturing, Warehousing and Storage, and Waste Treatment and Disposal.
All information that is included in OSHA Forms 300 and 301 must be submitted, except the employee name and, on the Form 301, the employee address, name of physician or health care professional, and facility name and address if health care services were rendered off-site. 29 C.F.R. § 1904.41(b)(9). Importantly, OSHA is mandating that the submission include a “legal company name.” 29 C.F.R. § 1904.41(b)(10).
In the Final Rule OSHA indicates that the collected information “may be used to target certain establishments for safety and health inspection or compliance assistance.” Further, the new data will “enable OSHA to better analyze and evaluate workplace safety and health hazards.” Because this information and data will be published, OSHA expects other stakeholders will benefit, including employees, state and federal agencies, researchers, safety consultants, and the public at large.
Whether or not this amendment will prove beneficial remains to be seen. But employers should exercise an increased level of attention when completing their OSHA Forms given OSHA’s new collection and publication of this data. Nearly all information on Forms 300 and 301 will be collected and published. Of course, in the past, there had always been a risk that such information would be made public, but that risk was for the most part limited to OSHA’s releasing this information after an individual FOIA request. Now, this information will be publicly available by default. Employers should keep this in mind when carrying out their recordkeeping obligations.
For more information, including how to make the necessary submissions, employers can visit OSHA’s Injury Tracking Application webpage or contact MGKF’s Jill Kaplan or Brandon Matsnev.
