In July 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a new rule expanding the injury and illness reporting requirements for many construction companies. The new rule, which went into effect on January 1, 2024, requires companies in certain “high-hazard” industries with 100 or more employees to electronically submit the following documents to OSHA once per year:
- Form 300A – Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illness;
- Form 300 – Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses; and
- Form 301 – Injury and Illness Incident Report to OSHA.
This requirement applies to many contractors and subcontractors, including those that perform work that falls under NAICS Code 2381 – Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors. The full list of NAICS codes that are required to meet the new reporting requirements is set forth in Appendix B to Subpart E of 29 CFR Part 1904.
In addition, all construction companies with 20 or more employees must electronically submit their Form 300A Summary of Work Related Injuries and Illness to OSHA on a yearly basis. Whether you are required to submit only a Form 300A or all three types of OSHA safety records, the deadline for reporting is March 2, 2024 for the forms covering 2023.
If you are unsure whether your company needs to meet the new reporting requirements, OSHA has created an “Injury Tracking Application (ITA) Coverage Application” website where you can input certain company-specific information to determine which reporting requirements apply to your company. If your company is required to submit your records to OSHA, you can do so online using the OSHA Injury Tracking Application.
Critically, the information your company submits to OSHA will be made available for public access. As a result, before submitting your records, be careful to avoid disclosing certain personally identifiable information in the Form 300 Log and Form 301 Incident Reports, such as employee’s names, social security numbers, telephone numbers, home addresses, email addresses, healthcare provider information, and family member information. While OSHA advised that it intends to use scrubbing technology to remove certain personally identifiable information before it is made available for public access, it is still important that companies protect their employees’ privacy rights before submitting the information to OSHA. According to OSHA guidance, the only personally identifiable information that companies should include are the employee’s date of birth (which OSHA advises will be automatically converted to an age before it is published online); job title; date hired; and gender. Further, if the incident or injury qualifies as a “privacy concern case,” you may be able to redact additional employee information prior to submission.
