OSHA Wants to Make Injury Data Public. Employers Want to Keep it Hidden.
/
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) has again proposed increased injury and illness reporting for employers as well as a change that would make that data public. Business is pushing back against the proposal.
OSHA said the changes will allow it to better identify workplaces where workers are at risk of injury and give workers more power to address safety issues with employers by increasing transparency. Employers worry the information becoming public could lead to increased union activity and public relations issues for companies with high injury and illness rates.
The proposed regulations would:
Remove the requirement for establishments with 250 or more employees not in a designated industry to electronically submit information from Form 300A annually.
Require employers with 100 or more employees in certain high-hazard industries to electronically submit information from those forms once a year.
Update the system used to determine industries subject to the submission requirement.
Under the proposed rule, OSHA has stated that it will release this detailed, site-specific data to the public. Employers don’t like that. Employers have objected to the new rule, saying that the release of data by OSHA raises the risk of union activity at worksites with high injury and illness rates and may lead to public relations issues for employers with high rates of injured workers.
Increased union activity and bad PR for unsafe companies? Well, that would be a shame.
If you want to voice your support for this rule, the public may comment on the proposal through May 31 at https://www.regulations.gov/document/OSHA-2021-0006-0006.
