Recordkeeping & Reporting: How the Revised Standard Affects Industry

1. Recordkeeping & Reporting: How the Revised Standard Affects Industry

2. History of the Regulations • In place since 1971 • Proposed changes announced in February 1996 (“The Revision of the Injury & Illness Recordkeeping System”) • Revision announced on January 18, 2001 • Final rule published in Federal Register on January 19, 2001 • Final rule effective January 1, 2002

3. What are the regulatory requirements? • OSHA regulations address: • Occupational injury and illness recording • Occupational injury and illness reporting • Applicable regulations: • 29 CFR 1904 • 29 CFR 1952

4. What is the purpose of the regulations? • Provide employers with a tool for tracking and recording workplace illnesses and injuries • Aid employers with recognizing workplace hazards and correcting hazardous conditions • Allow OSHA to track trends in safety

5. What prompted revisions to the regulations? • Industry complaints • Former recordkeeping requirements were complicated • Former recordkeeping forms were cumbersome • Confusing regulations • Former regulations included only requirements • Interpretations were found in many forms

6. What prompted revisions to the regulations? (continued) • Former regulations did not include provisions for needlestick and sharps injuries • Former regulations included complicated criteria for reporting musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) • OSHA attempting to revise, update, and simplify all regulations

7. Who is subject to theregulations? • All employers subject to the OSH Act • Exempt from most requirements: Industries classified as low-hazard sectors • e.g., Retail, service, finance, insurance, and real estate • List revised to reflect recent industry illness/injury data. • Excluded from full reporting requirements: • Religious establishments • Household employees performing ordinary domestic tasks • Certain volunteers

8. Who is subject to theregulations? (continued) • Excluded from full reporting requirements: (continued) • Industries classified under SIC codes 52-809, except codes 52-54, 70, 75, 76, 79, and 80 • Small businesses (10 or less employees) • Sheltered workshops and job training programs (unless personnel are compensated) • Stockholders (unless employed by the corporation in which they hold stock) • Self-employed persons

9. Primary Improvements to the Standard • Better definition of work-related injuries • Clarified definition of restricted work • Provisions for improved employee awareness and involvement • Provides workers or their representatives access to the information on recordkeeping forms • Increases awareness of potential hazards in the workplace • Provisions for employee privacy

10. Primary Improvements to the Standard (continued) • “Plain English” wording • Question and answer format • Inclusion of checklists and flowcharts • Inclusion of interpretations as well as requirements • Simpler forms • Flexibility for using computers to meet requirements

11. Summary of Key Provisions to New Recordkeeping Rule • Updated recordkeeping forms • OSHA Form 300: Log of Work-related Injuries and Illnesses • Replaces Form 200: Log and Summary of Occupational Injuries & Illnesses • Simplified reporting requirements • Printed on smaller legal sized paper

12. Summary of Key Provisions to New Recordkeeping Rule (continued) • Updated recordkeeping forms (continued) • OSHA Form 301: Injury and Illness Incident Report • Replaces Form 101: Supplementary Record of Occupational Injuries & Illnesses • Includes more data about how injury or illness occurred • OSHA Form 300A: Summary of Work-related Injuries and Illnesses (easier calculation of incident rates)

13. Summary of Key Provisions to New Recordkeeping Rule (continued) • Eliminates different criteria for recording work-related injuries and work-related illnesses • New rule uses one set of criteria for injuries and illnesses. • Former rule required employers to record all illnesses, regardless of severity. • New rule accounts for severity of illness.

14. Summary of Key Provisions to New Recordkeeping Rule (continued) • Requires records to include any work-related injury or illness resulting in: • Death • Days away from work • Restricted work or transfer to another job • Medical treatment beyond first aid • Loss of Consciousness • Diagnosis of a significant injury/illness by licensed health care professional Note: Exposures in and of themselves are not recordable.

15. Summary of Key Provisions to New Recordkeeping Rule (continued) • Includes new definitions to simplify recording decisions • Medical treatment • First aid • Restricted work

16. Summary of Key Provisions to New Recordkeeping Rule (continued) • Requires a significant degree of work-related aggravation before a pre-existing injury or illness becomes recordable • Includes separate provisions describing recording criteria for cases involving work-related transmission of tuberculosis

17. Summary of Key Provisions to New Recordkeeping Rule (continued) • Add additional exemptions to the definition of work-relationship • Limits recording of cases involving eating/drinking food beverages • Limits recording of common colds and flu • Limits recording of blood donations • Limits recording of exercise programs • Limits recording of mental illness

18. Summary of Key Provisions to New Recordkeeping Rule (continued) • Clarifies recording of “light duty” or “restricted work” cases • Requires employers to record cases when injured/ill employee is restricted from normal duties • Defines normal duties: duties the employee performs at least once weekly

19. Summary of Key Provisions to New Recordkeeping Rule (continued) • Conforms with new ergonomics standard • Requires employees to record all needlestick and sharps injuries involving contamination by another person’s blood or body fluids • Applies same recording criteria to MSDs as to all other injuries and illnesses • Revised recordkeeping forms have separate column for recording MSDs • Employers retain flexibility to determine whether an event or exposure in work environment caused or contributed to MSD

20. Summary of Key Provisions to New Recordkeeping Rule (continued) • Requires employers to record standard threshold shifts (STS) in employees’ hearing • Defines STS: an adverse change in an employee’s hearing threshold, relative to his/her most recent audiogram • Requires recording hearing loss cases at 10 dB shift, rather than 25 dB shift • Provides a separate column on Form 300 to capture statistics on hearing loss

21. Summary of Key Provisions to New Recordkeeping Rule (continued) • Changes regarding lost/restricted work • Change in terminology • Eliminates “lost workdays” • Focuses on “days away” or “days restricted or transferred” • Includes new regulations for counting days • Rely on calendar days instead of workdays

22. Summary of Key Provisions to New Recordkeeping Rule (continued) • Changes to employer requirements • Employers must establish procedure for employees to report injuries and illnesses • Employers must tell employees how to report • Employers are prohibited from discriminating against employees who report • With change of ownership, seller must turn over OSHA records to buyer

23. Summary of Key Provisions to New Recordkeeping Rule (continued) • Changes to employee rights • Privacy rights • Prohibits employers from entering an individual employee’s name on Form 300 for certain types of injuries/illnesses • Sexual assaults • HIV infections • Mental illness

24. Summary of Key Provisions to New Recordkeeping Rule (continued) • Changes to employee rights (continued) • Privacy rights • Provides employers the right not to describe the nature of sensitive injuries where the employee’s identity would be known • Gives employee access to portions of Form 301 relevant to the employee they represent • Requires employers to remove employees’ names before providing data to persons not provided access under the rule

25. Summary of Key Provisions to New Recordkeeping Rule (continued) • Requires the annual summary to be posted for three months (Feb. 1 to April 30) instead of one • Requires certification of annual summary by a company executive • Changes reporting of fatalities and catastrophes to exclude some motor carrier and motor vehicle incidents • Allows all forms to be kept on computer equipment or at alternate location

26. General Impact of Changes • Final rule anticipated to impact approximately 1.3 million establishments • Some changes will increase number of recordable cases; some will decrease number • OSHA anticipates roughly same number of reported injuries/illnesses • Newly exempt industries will experience reduced costs

27. General Impact ofChanges (continued) • Newly covered industries will experience additional costs and benefits • Must learn new requirements • Must revise computer systems used for recordkeeping

28. Areas of Potential Cost Savings • Form 300: Less time to complete simpler forms • Exemptions from the requirement to consider certain cases work-related (will result in less cases being recorded) • Elimination of different recording criteria for injuries and illnesses (will result in less cases being recorded)

29. Areas of PotentialCost Savings (continued) • Changes to the requirements for recording illnesses and injuries with days away or job restriction/job transfer (will result in less cases being recorded) • Changes to the criteria for recording cases of tuberculosis (will result in less cases being recorded) • Changes to the criteria for recording fatality/catastrophe incidents (will result in less cases being recorded)

30. Areas of PotentialCost Savings (continued) • Elimination of separate recording criteria for MSDs (will result in less cases being recorded) • Improvement in determining recordability of illness/injury • Allowance of computerized and centralized records

31. Areas of Potential Cost Increases • Form 300A • Requires increased employer review of data and additional data on the average employment/hours worked at establishment • Changes result in higher quality data, but more time and cost to employer • Changes to the definitions of medical treatment and first aid (will result in more cases being recorded)

32. Areas of PotentialCost Increases (continued) • Change to the criteria for recording cases of hearing loss (will result in more cases being recorded) • Change to the criteria for recording needlestick and sharps injury (will result in more cases being recorded) • Increased employee involvement • Employee privacy protections

33. Benefits of the Revised Regulations • More accurate data regarding occupational illnesses and injuries • Simplified overall recordkeeping systems for employers • Better protection for employees’ privacy “The revision… will not lessen an employer’s recordkeeping responsibilities, but it will make it easier to successfully meet the requirements.” — Sec. of Labor, Alexis Herman

34. Resources for Additional Information • Web site: www.osha.gov • OSHA Region IV (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi): 404-562-2300 • 29 CFR 1904: Occupational Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting Requirements • “The Blue Book”: Recordkeeping Guidelines for Occupational Injuries and Illnesses • Available from OSHA • Last updated in 1991