The construction industry in the United States has been hit with significant development. On Friday, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released its final electronic recordkeeping rule, significantly affecting employers with 100 or more employees in specific industries. This change is seen as a critical move towards greater accountability and transparency in the construction industry.
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Critical Aspects of the Rule
According to the new regulation, employers must submit information from the agency’s Forms 300 and 301 once a year. An unexpected departure from the proposed rule saw OSHA retain the obligation for employers with 250 or more employees to electronically submit Form 300A data annually. Smaller companies, between 20 to 249 employees, in specific sectors will also have to continue their annual submission of Form 300A information.
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The gathered data will be published on a public website, albeit with personal identifiers such as employees’ names and contact information removed. The new rule will come into effect on January 1, 2024. It’s worth mentioning that this development represents OSHA’s second effort at amplifying electronic record requirements, following an initial attempt in 2016.
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Implementation Timeline
The rule requires covered employers to make electronic submissions to OSHA by March 2 of the year following the calendar year covered by each form. This means employers must submit their 2023 calendar year information by March 2, 2024.
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Additional Industries Affected
Six additional industries have been included in the final rule’s list of industries required to comply: logging, hunting, and trapping; miscellaneous durable goods merchant wholesalers; taxi and limousine services; and other support activities for transportation. Including these sectors represents an extension of the original list provided in OSHA’s April proposed rule.
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Concerns from Employers
The announcement was met with a mixed response. Critics, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, expressed concern about the potential misuse of data, arguing that competitors might leverage it to gain insights into an employer’s efficiencies and productivity rates. Moreover, the data could be used to misrepresent a company’s safety record.
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OSHA’s Response and Future Outlook
In response to these criticisms, OSHA stressed that the online availability of the data would empower the public to discern the safest workplaces in any given industry and identify emerging injury and illness trends. This, they argue, will enable more informed decisions about which companies and industries to support and work for.
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During a media briefing, OSHA’s Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, Doug Parker, reassured employers. He stated that employers should exclude personally identifiable information from their submissions and affirmed OSHA’s commitment to ensuring sensitive information is not made public.
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In conclusion, Parker emphasized that this rule represents a significant step towards providing OSHA and the public with an understanding of workers’ safety and health challenges. The future looks promising as this crucial information is expected to bring invaluable insights at the industry level, helping workers and employers to make more informed decisions about their workplace’s safety and health.
 

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