Some long-term care and other employers now are subject to updated reporting requirements for injury and illness data through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s injury tracking application.
The requirements went into effect with the new year for employers of certain sizes and in certain industries. Among the affected employers are assisted living and other residential care facilities, continuing care retirement communities and skilled nursing facilities (NAICS 6231 and 6233, for example).
Under a rule finalized in July, OSHA amended its regulation to require companies with 100 or more employees in certain industries to electronically submit information from their Forms 300 and 301 to the agency once a year.
The new requirement “is a huge expansion of what employers must send to OSHA and will allow OSHA to obtain — and then publish to third parties — the specific injury and illness records that each senior living and skilled nursing operator keeps at their worksites,” Micah Dickie, an Atlanta-based attorney with Fisher & Phillips’ Workplace Safety and Catastrophe Management Practice Group, previously told McKnight’s Senior Living when the rule was proposed.
Among other requirements, records must be maintained at the worksite for at least five years. Each February through April, employers must post a summary of the injuries and illnesses recorded the previous year. Also, if requested, copies of the records must be provided to current and former employees, or their representatives.
OSHA says that the new reporting requirement will allow the agency to keep closer tabs on illness and injuries in workplaces as well as make the information publicly available. The agency will publish some of the data collected on its website to allow employers, employees, potential employees, employee representatives, current and potential customers, researchers and the general public to use information about a company’s workplace safety and health record to make informed decisions.
Read the final rule here.
