It's That Time! Remember to Post Your 300A Form and Electronically Report Your 2023 OSHA 300A Data to OSHA Using a New Login Procedure.

Every year at this time the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires employers with 10 or more employees to post the OSHA 300A form from February 1 to April 30th, 2024.  Each year certain employers must electronically submit the OSHA 300A information directly to OSHA by March 2, 2024.  If you remember, the 300A form summarizes the injury and illness information that was kept on the OSHA 300 log form.  In addition, remember COVID-19 is a recordable and reportable illness if confirmed, work-related, and led to a loss of workdays (see below for a further discussion).  It would be recorded as a respiratory illness on the OSHA 300 form.  Because this is an illness, if an employee voluntarily requests that his name not be entered on the log, the employer must comply as specified under 29 CFR 1904.29(b)(7)(vi) and list it as a privacy case. 

OSHA 300A Form - Posting/Reporting Form

If you need assistance in completing the OSHA 300A form we did a webinar together with Keevily Spero & Whitelaw on completing the OSHA 300 & 300A form.  You can find the webinar here or watch it below.   Remember covered employers are required to prepare and maintain records of serious occupational injuries and illnesses that occur at a workplace on the OSHA 300 log form.  At the end of the year, covered employers are required to tally the totals on each column and enter the totals on the OSHA 300A form.  The information should be used by employers to evaluate safety in the workplace and determine ways to eliminate or reduce hazards in the workplace.  OSHA's 300A form is required to be posted until April 30, 2024, and must be retained for 5 years.  During the retention period, you are required to update the log to add new information regarding the occupational injuries and illnesses recorded on it.  OSHA has a brief tutorial to help you complete the forms.  

A final rule was issued and went into effect on January 1, 2017, requiring certain employers to electronically submit injury and illness data to OSHA.  OSHA has provided an online secure website (click here for the website) for submitting this information.  Remember there is a new login procedure that became effective in October 2022.  The OSHA Injury Tracking Application (ITA) transitioned its login procedure to the public's one account access to government applications, Login.gov.  All current and new account holders must connect their ITA account to a Login.gov account with the same email address to access the application for the 2024 collection of Calendar Year 2023 Form 300A data.  You can watch the video on creating this account here.  You must submit this information by March 2, 2024, OSHA started collecting the information on January 2, 2024.  If you meet the following criteria you DO NOT have to electronically submit your 300A information to OSHA:

OSHA 300 Log Form

 

• The establishment's peak employment during the previous calendar year was 19 or fewer, regardless of the establishment's industry.
• The establishment's industry is on this list, regardless of the size of the establishment.
• The establishment had peak employment between 20 and 249 employees during the previous calendar year and the establishment's industry is not on this list.   Construction and remediation and other waste management services are both on this list, so if you are in those industries and meet the size requirements you must electronically report your OSHA 300A information.

SARS-CoV2

In addition, COVID-19 can be a reportable and a recordable illness if a worker is infected as a result of performing their work-related duties.  If your work-related confirmed COVID-19 case results in a hospitalization you must report it within 24 hours of exposure to COVID-19 at work or if it results in a fatality you must report it if it occurred within 30 days of exposure to COVID-19 at work (see OSHA coronavirus reporting for more information).  However, employers are only responsible for reporting or recording cases of COVID-19 if all of the following are true:

• The case is a confirmed case of COVID-19 (see Centers for Disease Control (CDC) information on persons under investigation and presumptive positive and laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19);
• The case is work-related (as defined by 29 CFR 1904.5); and 
• The case involves one or more of the general recording criteria set forth in 29 CFR 1904.7 (e.g., medical treatment beyond first aid, days away from work).

Employers should follow the OSHA guidance found in the Updated Interim Enforcement Response Plan for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Related Articles:

• OSHA Recordkeeping Webinar To Discuss Posting Requirements For 300A Form & Filing It Electronically! (futureenv.blogspot.com)
• It's That Time Again! Did You Remember to POST Your OSHA 300A Form! (futureenv.blogspot.com)
• Have You Remembered To Post The OSHA 300A Form? (futureenv.blogspot.com)

The Annual Increase of OSHA Penalties Goes Into Effect!

On January 13, 2022, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced (click here for the announcement) effective January 15, 2022, in accordance with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 and several amendments that they are making the annual adjustments for inflation as required by those laws.  

The cost-of-living adjustment multiplier for 2022, based on the Consumer Price Index for October 2021 is 1.06222.  In computing the 2022 adjustment, OSHA multiplied the most recent penalty amount for each applicable penalty by the multiplier and then rounded to the nearest dollar.  

Serious Violation Penalties (per violation)       

    Minimum $1,036        Maximum $14,502

Other-Than-Serious Penalties (per violation)

    Minimum $0               Maximum $14,502

Willful or Repeat Penalties (per violation)    

     Minimum $10,360*    Maximum $145,027   

Posting Requirements (per violation)

    Minimum $0                Maximum $14,502

Failure to Abate (per day unabated beyond the abatement date, max. 30-days) $14,502

*For a repeated other-than-serious violation that otherwise would have no initial penalty a Gravity Based Penalty (GBP) of $414 shall be proposed for the first repeat violation, $1,036 for the second repeated violation, and $2,072 for a third repetition.              

This serious violation would cost the employer between $1,036 and $14,502

OSHA increased its penalties on August 1, 2016, the link to our previous blog post discussing the initial increase that started this annual process to increase fines is here.  OSHA will continue to do penalty reductions based on the size of the employer and other factors.  The OSHA January 13, 2022 enforcement memo details the penalty increase, minimum penalties, gravity-based penalty amounts, and serious willful penalty reductions.  In addition, OSHA's website provides information and guidance to employers on debt collection activity.  The site is designed to help employers pay their debts with OSHA click here to visit the site.