OSHA Proposes Increased Obligations to Report Injury and Illness Data

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA") issued a press release on November 7, 2013 announcing that it is proposing a rule that would increase the obligations of certain establishments to report injury and illness data.  The new rule will not implement any new record-keeping requirements, but rather will increase the obligations of certain employers to report injury and illness data that is already required to be kept under Title 29, Part 1904 of the Code of Federal Regulations (29 C.F.R. §1904).  

Specifically, the proposed rule would require employers with 250 or more employees to electronically submit data collected from their OSHA 300 and OSHA 301 forms on a quarterly basis. These employers would also be required to submit the summary injury and illness data compiled in their OSHA 300A forms on an annual basis.  Employers in certain industries that are partially exempt from Part 1904 record-keeping obligations under 29 C.F.R. §1904.2 (establishments classified in a specific low hazard retail, service, finance, insurance or real estate industry listed in Appendix A to Subpart B) will not be subject to this new rule.   

The proposed rule would also require employers with 20 or more employees, which are already subject to Part 1904 record keeping requirements, and which work in certain designated industries (all industries covered by Part 1904 with a 2009 Days Away From Work, Job Restriction, or Job Transfer (DART) rate of 2.0 or greater in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (BLS SOII)) to electronically submit the summary injury and illness data compiled in their OSHA 300A forms on an annual basis.  These designated industries will be published as Appendix A of Part 1904, Subpart E. 

Additionally, under the proposed rule, all employers who receive a notification from OSHA would be required to electronically submit information from their Part 1904 injury and illness records to OSHA for the time periods specified in the notice. 

Under OSHA’s current regulations, it is only able to collect establishment specific injury and illness data directly from employers through three limited methods.  OSHA acquires establishment-specific injury and illness data during inspections, through the OSHA Data Initiative, and through required reports of serious injuries or deaths in the workplace.  OSHA also has access to data collected in the BLS SOII.  

According to OSHA, its efforts to target employers and industries with ongoing serious safety and health concerns are hampered under the current record-keeping requirements by the limitations on its access to establishment-specific injury and illness data.  Additionally, OSHA believes that the data that it is able to access is stale and may not necessarily be indicative of a particular employer’s or industry’s current safety record.  OSHA believes that the proposed rule will provide increased access to timely establishment-specific injury and illness data that will better aid its efforts to target especially unsafe employers and industries. 

Employers should take time to review OSHA’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses and determine how this proposed rule might affect them.  The proposed rule is open for comment until February 6, 2014.  OSHA will hold a public meeting on the proposed rule making on January 9, 2014 in Washington, D.C.  Additional information and resources can be found on OSHA’s website.    

MSHA Releases Third Quarter 2013 Fatality Data

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) recently released its fatality data for the third quarter of 2013.  The agency announced that, sadly, nine miners lost their lives in workplace accidents between July 1st and September 30th.  Five of the fatalities occurred at coal mines and four occurred at metal/non-metal mines.  

While the loss of just one life is tragic, one positive to take from the fatality report is that there were two less fatalities in the third quarter of 2013 than in the third quarter of 2012.  Additionally, there have been three less fatalities (27) in first three quarters of 2013 than during the first three quarters of 2012 (30).

While the mining industry has made significant advances in safety practices and technologies, MSHA's fatality data serves as a stark reminder that mining remains a hazardous occupation.  Operators and miners alike would be well served to examine MSHA's full analysis of the third quarter 2013 fatality data, which also includes practices recommended by MSHA to avoid similar accidents.

OSHA Taking Aim at Silica Exposure in Fracking Operations

The following post recently appeared in Huddleston Bolen's blog, The Energy Connection:

The use of hydraulic fracturing in upstream oil and gas operations has increased significantly in the past several years as a result of new technologies that have provided increased access to oil and gas deposits located in deep rock formations.  Hydraulic fracturing operations inject a fracturing fluid into the ground, which contains “proppants” that help hold open fractures in the rock formations created by the fracturing fluid and force the gas into the well bore.  One of the primary proppants used in hydraulic fracturing fluids is sand, which can contain up to 99% silica.

Workers who are exposed to high levels of silica dust can contract a disease called silicosis, which can lead to lung cancer and other disabilities and death.  OSHA, which has jurisdiction ... (more).