OSHA’s Final Rule to Improve Injury and Illness Tracking Starts Jan. 1, 2024

OSHA requires certain employers to electronically submit workplace injury and illness information to the agency through its Injury Tracking Application (ITA) every year. On July 17, 2023, OSHA announced a final rule that requires certain employers in designated high-hazard industries to electronically submit additional injury and illness information. This additional information can be gathered from records that employers are already required to keep.

The final rule becomes effective on Jan. 1, 2024. The ITA will begin accepting 2023 injury and illness data on Jan. 2, 2024.

Injury and Illness Submission Expansion Overview

Under this OSHA final rule, establishments in certain high-hazard industries must electronically submit information from their Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses and their Injury and Illness Incident Report.

The final rule includes the following submission requirements:

• Certain establishments must electronically submit detailed information about each recordable injury and illness entered on their previous calendar year’s OSHA 300 Log and 301 Incident Report forms (29 CFR 1904.41) to OSHA. This includes the date, physical location, and severity of the injury or illness; details about the worker who was injured; and details about how the injury or illness occurred;
• Only establishments with 100 or more employees in designated industries are required to submit case-specific information from the OSHA Form 300 Log and the OSHA Form 301 Incident Report; and
• The data must be electronically submitted through OSHA’s ITA. Establishments are also required to include their legal company name when making electronic submissions to OSHA from their injury and illness records to improve data quality.

The final rule retains the current requirements for electronic submission of Form 300A information from establishments with 20-249 employees in certain high-hazard industries and establishments with 250 or more employees in industries that must routinely keep OSHA injury and illness records.

Some of the data collected on the OSHA website will be published 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. OSHA stated that it believes that providing public access to the data will ultimately reduce occupational injuries and illnesses.

Designated Industries

Establishments with 100 or more employees in designated industries are required to submit case-specific information from the OSHA Form 300 Log and the OSHA Form 301 Incident Report. Establishments that had a peak employment of 100 or more employees during the previous calendar year meet this size criteria.

The designated industries are listed in Appendix B to Subpart E of 29 C.F.R. Part 1904 under their North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code. The final Appendix B to Subpart E is as follows from the final rule in the Federal Register:

One way to determine if an establishment(s) is required to report these data is by using OSHA’s ITA Coverage Application. The requirements apply to establishments covered by Federal OSHA, as well as establishments covered by states with their own occupational safety and health programs (i.e., State Plans).

Electronically Data Submission

Required data submissions must be electronically submitted through OSHA’s ITA. To comply with this requirement, employers may:

• Use the webform on the ITA;
• Submit a comma-separated value file to the ITA; or
• Use an application programming interface feed.

• The due date to complete this submission is March 2, 2024. The submission requirement is annual, and the deadline for timely submission of the previous year’s injury and illness data will be on March 2 of each year.

  Benefits of the New Requirements

  Other than providing public access to injury information, the access to establishment-specific, case-specific injury and illness data will help OSHA identify establishments with specific hazards.

  This will enable OSHA to interact directly with these establishments through enforcement and/or outreach activities to address and abate the hazards and improve worker safety and health. These same data will also allow OSHA to better analyze injury trends related to specific industries, processes or hazards.

  OSHA is of the opinion that the collection and publication of data from Forms 300 and 301 will not only increase the amount of information available for analysis but will also result in more accurate statistics regarding work-related injuries and illnesses, including more detailed statistics on injuries and illnesses for specific occupations and industries.

  Employer Next Steps

  Employers should review the requirements in the final rule to understand whether they are in a designated industry and to understand any new regulatory requirements. Affected employers should update and implement related compliance policies and procedures by Jan. 1, 2024.