The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a proposed rule to update and revise two aspects of the agency’s recordkeeping and reporting requirements for work-related injuries and illnesses. Public comments on the proposed changes should be submitted by Sept. 20, 2011.

Reporting of Work-Related Fatalities and In-Patient Hospitalizations
Under the new proposed reporting requirements, employers would be required to report to OSHA any work-related fatalities and all in-patient hospitalizations within 8 hours, and work-related amputations within 24 hours.

OSHA’s current regulation requires an employer to report to OSHA, within 8 hours, all work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations of 3 or more employees. Reporting amputations is not required under the current regulation.

Classification of Partially Exempt Industries
OSHA is also proposing to update Appendix A of the recordkeeping rule, which lists industries partially exempt from the requirements to maintain work-related injury or illness logs. These industries received partial exemption because of their relatively low injury and illness rates.

The current list of industries is based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) was introduced in 1997 to replace the SIC system for classifying establishments by industry. When OSHA issued the recordkeeping rule in 2001, the agency used the old SIC code system because injury and illness data were not yet available based on the NAICS.

The proposed change also responds to a Government Accountability Office report recommending an update from the old SIC system to the newer NAICS.

Additional Information
To educate employers and employees about the proposed changes, OSHA has updated itsRecordkeeping page to include answers to frequently asked questions regarding the proposed rule. You may also read the proposed rule in its entirety by clicking here. For more information on OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements, please visit the HR360 Safety & Wellness – OSHA Recordkeeping section.

With the arrival of summer, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has launched a national outreach initiative to educate workers and their employers about the hazards of working outdoors in the heat and steps needed to prevent heat-related illnesses.

The Dangers of Heat
According to OSHA, each year thousands of outdoor workers experience heat illness, which often manifests as heat exhaustion. If not quickly addressed, heat exhaustion can become heat stroke, which killed more than 30 workers last year. Heat can be a real danger for workers in jobs ranging from agriculture and landscaping to construction, road repair, airport baggage handling and even car sales.

Guidance for Keeping Workers Safe
OSHA has created a new website featuring a variety of educational resources to give workers and employers information about heat illnesses and how to prevent them. There are also training tools for employers to use and posters to display at their worksites. OSHA will continue to add information and tools to this page throughout the summer. You may access the website by clicking here.

OSHA is also partnering with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on weather service alerts that will incorporate worker safety precautions when heat alerts are issued across the United States. NOAA’s Heat Watch page now includes worker safety precautions when extreme heat alerts are issued.

More information on workplace injury and illness prevention can be found in the HR360 section on Developing a Health & Safety Program.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has developed a new online tool called the OSHA Recordkeeping Advisor to help employers understand their responsibilities to report and record work-related injuries and illnesses under the OSHA regulations.

The OSHA Recordkeeping Advisor is written in plain language and is intended to help employers, especially small business employers, determine:

• Whether an injury or illness (or related event) is work-related;
• Whether an event or exposure at home or on travel is work-related;
• Whether an exception applies to the injury or illness;
• Whether a work-related injury or illness needs to be recorded; and
• Which provisions of the regulations apply when recording a work-related case.

The Advisor presents various questions and relies on employer responses to determine the appropriate course of action. Please note that some employers may be exempt from OSHA’s recordkeeping rules, for example those with 10 or fewer employees during the previous calendar year and those classified in specific industries. Employers in states with OSHA-approved state plansshould contact their states for information on state-specific exemptions.

For more information on OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements, please visit the HR360 Safety & Wellness – OSHA Recordkeeping section.