PUBLICATIONS

This is a reminder that beginning February 1, employers who are not exempt from this requirement (see the list below) must post OSHA Form 300A, which is a summary of the total number of job-related injuries and illnesses that occurred in the preceding year. 

Executive Summary:  This is a reminder that beginning February 1, employers who are not exempt from this requirement (see the list below) must post OSHA Form 300A, which is a summary of the total number of job-related injuries and illnesses that occurred in the preceding year.  Employers must also provide information about the annual average number of employees and total hours worked during the calendar year to assist in calculating incidence rates. 

The 300A Summary must be posted from February 1 through April 30, 2012, in the area normally used by employers to post employee notices.  Employers must make a copy of the summary available to employees who move from worksite to worksite, such as construction workers, and employees who do not report to any fixed establishment on a regular basis. 

A company executive should sign or certify the Summary and complete each line, including the "total" line of the Summary posting "zeros" wherever necessary.  Even companies who had no recordable injuries or illnesses in 2011 must post the form with zeros in the total line.

Employers should not post the OSHA 300 Log; however, employees, former employees, and their representatives have the right to review the OSHA 300 Log (and have limited access to OSHA Form 301 or its equivalent).

Exempt Employers

Employers are exempt from this requirement if they employ ten or fewer employees.  Additionally, employers in the industry groups listed below are normally exempt from federal OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping and posting requirements (this list was taken from OSHA's web site, http://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/ppt1/RK1exempttable.html).  A few otherwise exempt employers must maintain records if they are selected to participate in the Annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses.  They will be notified in advance and supplied with the necessary forms and instructions.

Note that all employers, even if otherwise exempt because of company size or industry classification, must report to OSHA any workplace injury that results in a fatality or the hospitalization of three or more employees.

Application to Airline Employers

Airline employers must record and post all injuries and illnesses for all employees; however, they are not required to either record or post injuries or illnesses of flight crews (airline pilots, engineers, flight attendants) while these employees are in an aircraft performing their job duties.  If a flight crew member is injured outside the aircraft, and the injury is work-related and not subject to an exception, the airline employer must record and post these injuries.   

Proposed Revisions to the Recordkeeping Requirements

OSHA has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would revise the list of partially exempt industries by replacing it with a list of industries based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) instead of the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system and based on more recent occupational injury and illness rates.  The proposed rule would also require employers to report to OSHA, within eight hours, all work-related fatalities and all work-related in-patient hospitalizations; and within 24 hours, all work-related amputations.  Currently, employers must report to OSHA, within eight hours, all work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations of three or more employees.  The comment period on the proposed rule has closed; however, OSHA has not issued a final regulation incorporating these changes. 

More information regarding the posting and recordkeeping requirements is available on OSHA's web site at: http://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/pub3169text.html.

If you have questions regarding the posting requirement or other OSHA-related issues, please contact Terry Price, tprice@fordharrison.com, Heather Macdougall, hmacdougall@fordharrison.com, or the Ford & Harrison attorney with whom you usually work.

List of Partially Exempt Industries