Aides frequently injure themselves on the job, putting them at risk of leaving the LTC field.

Employers will be able to electronically submit required injury and illness data from their completed 2016 Occupational Safety and Health Administration Form 300A via a new form on the OSHA website beginning Aug. 1, the agency has announced.

The Injury Tracking Application will be accessible from the ITA webpage.

The announcement follows one made in June that OSHA was seeking comments about its proposal to delay the 2016 final rule that required employers to electronically submit the summary data. Originally, submissions were to begin July 1, but OSHA has proposed a new deadline of Dec. 1.

Under the final rule, “high-hazard” industries that have 250 or more employees are required to electronically submit to OSHA the injury and illness information that they already collect on OSHA Forms 300, 300A and 301 every year. Additional businesses may be required to submit the forms as well, if they are notified by OSHA to do so.

The proposed delay would apply only to Form 300A.

Some businesses with 20 to 249 employees are required to electronically submit information from Form 300A only. Among those affected industries identified in Appendix A to Subpart E of Part 1904 of the rule are community care facilities for the elderly (NAICS 6233), other residential care facilities (NAICS 6239) and nursing care facilities (NAICS 6231).

The data submission process, according to OSHA, has four steps:

  1. Create an establishment
  2. Add 300A summary data
  3. Submit data to OSHA
  4. Review confirmation email

Employers will have three options for submitting data via the website, OSHA said. They can manually enter data into a web form, upload a CSV file to process single or multiple establishments at the same time, or, for those who use automated recordkeeping systems, transmit data electronically via an application programming interface.