A new rule by the Department of Labor requires firms with 100 or more employees in certain industries to electronically submit their OSHA Form 300 and 301 logs, starting in 2024. These are in addition to submission of Form 300A-Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses.
The new rule applies to businesses in 104 high-hazard industries that include the agricultural, food production, manufacturing, retail, wholesale, transportation and medical sectors.
All employers that are subject to OSHA regulations are required to annually submit to OSHA Form 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) and Form 301 (Injury and Illness Incident Report), and their Form 300A.
Additionally, employers are required to post their Form 300A in a conspicuous area in the workplace from Feb. 1 through April 30 every year.
The new rule leaves in place existing regulations requiring:
- Businesses with 20 to 249 workers in certain high-hazard industries to electronically submit information from their Forms 300A once per year.
- All employers with 250 or more workers to electronically submit information from their Forms 300A once per year.
The final day to submit the above electronic files is March 2, 2024.
You can find a full list of the affected 104 industries here.
The following are some of the industries that are affected by the new rule:
- NAICS 3118: Bakeries
- NAICS 3119: Other Food Manufacturing
- NAICS 3121: Beverage Manufacturing
- NAICS 3261: Plastics Product Manufacturing
- NAICS 3262: Rubber Product Manufacturing
- NAICS 3272: Glass and Glass Product Manufacturing
- NAICS 3273: Cement and Concrete Product Manufacturing
- NAICS 3361: Motor Vehicle Manufacturing
- NAICS 4244: Grocery and Related Product Merchant Wholesalers
- NAICS 4248: Beer, Wine and Distilled Alcoholic Beverage Merchant Wholesalers
- NAICS 4413: Automotive Parts, Accessories and Tire Stores
- NAICS 4422: Home Furnishings Stores
- NAICS 4441: Building Material and Supplies Dealers
- NAICS 4442: Lawn and Garden Equipment and Supplies Stores
- NAICS 4451: Grocery Stores
- NAICS 4522: Department Stores
- NAICS 4931: Warehousing and Storage
- NAICS 5621: Waste Collection
- NAICS 5622: Waste Treatment and Disposal
- NAICS 6219: Other Ambulatory Health Care Services
- NAICS 6221: General Medical and Surgical Hospitals
- NAICS 6222: Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Hospitals
- NAICS 6223: Specialty (except Psychiatric and Substance Abuse) Hospitals
- NAICS 6231: Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities)
- NAICS 6232: Residential Intellectual and Developmental Disability, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Facilities
OSHA’s reasoning
OSHA has said that it plans to use the information from the files to identify high-hazard employers and injury trends. It also said that it plans to publish some of the data it collects on its website, which has employers concerned that it may be used by attorneys to target them for lawsuits.
The federal agency says it’s for the sake of transparency and to provide information to employees, potential employees, customers and the general public about a company’s workplace safety history.
