On November 7, 2013, OSHA issued a proposed regulation that would significantly amend the regulation regarding the annual OSHA injury and illness survey. 

The most significant aspect of the proposed change is a provision stating that OSHA intends to make the data it collects public, subject to restrictions imposed by the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act.

Other requirements are:

–Companies with 250 or more employees must electronically submit to OSHA or OSHA’s designee, on a quarterly basis, all information from the records that they keep under Part 1904.  This information includes the individual entries on the OSHA Form 300 and the information entered on each OSHA Form 301.  The summary data from OSHA Form 300A will be submitted annually. 

–Employers with 20 or more employees in designated industries must electronically submit the information from the OSHA summary form (Form 300A) to OSHA or OSHA’s designee, on an annual basis.

–All employers who receive a notification from OSHA must submit information from their Part 1904 injury and illness records electronically to OSHA, for the time period and at the intervals specified by the notification. Employers will not have to submit injury and illness data to OSHA under this section unless they are notified to do so.  OSHA will announce individual data collections through publication in the Federal Register and the OSHA newsletter and through announcements on its Web site. Establishments that are required to submit the data will also be notified by mail.  Each notification will be part of an individual data collection designed to obtain specified injury and illness data from a specified group of employers at a specified time interval. 

The public will have through February 6, 2014, to submit written comments on the proposed new rule.  On January 9, 2014, OSHA will hold a public meeting on the proposed rule in Washington, D.C.