OSHA Injury Tracking Application Now Up and Running

By Liani J. Reeves - Bullard Law

August 1, 2017

As Bullard has previously reported, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) promulgated new rules effective January 1, 2017, which required additional reporting of injuries and illnesses by employers with 250 or more employees or employers with 20-249 employees in “hazardous industries.” These reports will be collected through an online portal and the reports will eventually be made publicly available on OSHA’s website.

The initial reports were originally due to be submitted to OSHA by July 1, 2017. However, that date came and went with no actual way to submit the reports and a note on the OSHA website said that implementation had been delayed.

Today, OSHA launched the Injury Tracking Application (ITA) which employers will use to electronically submit injury and illness data. OSHA also announced its intent to extend the date by which employers are required to submit their reports to December 1, 2017.

The reporting process is entirely electronic and has three different options for data submission.

1. Users will be able to manually enter data into a web form.
2. Users will be able to upload a CSV file to process single or multiple establishments at the same time.
3. Users of automated recordkeeping systems will have the ability to transmit data electronically via an API (application programming interface).

Employers should begin reviewing the ITA instructions and other materials available on OSHA’s website here to ensure that they are prepared to properly submit the data by December 1, 2017. They should also ensure that they are adequately and accurately capturing the required data.

In addition to the reporting requirements, the new OSHA rules also impacted employer policies effective January 1, 2017.  If not yet done, employers should review their policies to ensure that they do not have potential chilling effects on employee reporting of accidents and injuries, and inform employees of their right to report workplace injuries and illnesses.

For a more thorough review of the new OSHA reporting requirements, see Bullard’s Alert here.