In 2016 the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a Rule intended to improve the tracking of workplace injuries and illnesses, known as the Electronic Recordkeeping Rule.  The Rule would have required covered employers – those with 250 or more employees that are otherwise required to maintain OSHA injury and illness records, and those with 20-249 employees in designated “high-risk industries” (including manufacturing, construction, and many healthcare establishments) – to electronically submit Form 300A Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses data to OSHA on an annual basis.  The Rule also imposed an additional requirement on larger employers (those with 250 or more employees).  The Rule would have required those larger employers to electronically submit to OSHA much more detailed information from their OSHA Form 300 Logs and OSHA Form 301 Illness and Injury Incident Reports.

July 1, 2018 was the initial deadline for electronic submissions required by the new Rule.  However, OSHA suspended the implementation of the proposed Rule with respect to Form 300 and Form 301 data.  July 1, 2018 remained the date by which covered employers were required to electronically submit Form 300A summary data.

In welcomed news for larger employers, and apparently due to its new-found desire to protect worker privacy, OSHA has rescinded that part of the 2016 Rule requiring employers with 250 or more employees to electronically submit to OSHA the more detailed Form 300 Log and OSHA Form 301 data.  The OSHA note regarding the Rule, dated January 24, 2019, is available here.  As a result, electronic submission of OSHA Form 300 and OSHA Form 301 data is no longer required.

It is important to note that the remaining electronic recordkeeping requirements imposed by the 2016 Rule, as stated above, continue in effect.  Accordingly, all covered employers (250 or more employees and those with over 20 employees in designated high-risk industries) must electronically submit to OSHA Form 300A summary information, annually, by March 2 of the following calendar year.