Summary: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) has postponed enforcement of its final rule regarding electronic reporting of work-related injuries and illnesses until November 1, 2016.
Effective Date: Enforcement of the Injury Reporting Requirements begins on November 1, 2016. The requirements relating to the electronic submission of recordkeeping forms becomes effective on January 1, 2017.
Action Required: Inform employees of injury illness reporting requirements; post the most updated OSHA Job Safety and Health-Is the Law poster (April 2015 or later); revise post-accident drug testing policy.
OSHA’s final electronic recordkeeping rule, “Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses,” covered in a prior alert requires employers to develop employee injury and illness reporting requirements that meet specific criteria. Specifically, employers must inform employees of the following:
- The procedures for reporting work-related injuries and illnesses promptly and accurately. According to the final rule, a procedure is not reasonable if it would deter or discourage employees from reporting injuries or illnesses.
- That employees have the right to report work-related injuries and illnesses.
- That employers are prohibited from discharging or in any manner discriminating against employees for reporting work-related injuries or illnesses
To comply with the second and third points we recommend you post the latest version (August 2106) of 5 in 1 federal poster or you may download the April 2015 or later version of the OSHA Job Safety and Health-It’s the Law Poster available here.
Note on Post-Accident Drug Testing - As previously reported, OSHA indicates in the final rule that post-accident drug testing could be considered a practice that would discourage employees from reporting work-related injuries or illnesses and therefore could be discriminating practice. “To strike the appropriate balance here, drug testing policies should limit post-incident testing to situations in which employee drug use is likely to have contributed to the incident, and for which the drug test can accurately identify impairment caused by drug use.” Under the new rule, employers must have reasonable suspicion that drug use contributed to the accident before conducting a post-accident drug test.
We have been advised that OSHA will be issuing additional guidance on drug testing prior to the effective date and will communicate any such guidance.
For additional information, please contact your Human Resources Business Partner.