REGULATIONS


OSHA Updates Its Regulations Learn how to implement the revised reporting requirements BY GINA THRONEBERRY


In 2013, the Occupational Safety and Health Admin- istration (OSHA) issued a proposed rule to improve the tracking of workplace


injuries and illnesses through the elec- tronic collection of establishment- specific injury and illness data. After receiving comments on the proposal, OSHA issued the final rule that became effective January 1, 2017 (Occupa- tional Safety and Health Adminis- tration 29 CFR Part 1904). For more information on the final rule, go to https://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/ finalrule/index.html. Although ASCs are partially exempt from some of the requirements in that rule, they are sub- ject to a requirement that prohibits employers from discouraging workers from reporting an injury or illness.


Employee Involvement The rule mandates that facilities must comply with the following three pro- visions to promote complete and accu- rate reporting of injury and illness data collected by employers and reported to OSHA. (1) An employer’s procedure for reporting work-related injuries and illnesses must be reasonable and must not deter or discourage employees from reporting;


(2) Employers must inform employ- ees of their right to report work- related injuries and illnesses free from retaliation (Note: Employers can meet this requirement by post- ing the current version of the OSHA workplace poster, avail- able at https://www.osha.gov/ Publications/osha3165-8514.pdf, or by otherwise informing their employees of their right to report work-related injuries and illnesses free from retaliation. For exam-


ple, employers could also meet this requirement by providing a written or email notice to each employee.); and


(3) An employer may not retaliate against employees for reporting work-related injuries or illnesses. These provisions became effective August 10, 2016, and OSHA began enforcing them on December 1, 2016. For more information about that time- line,


go to https://www.osha.gov/


recordkeeping/finalrule/Tracking EnforcementMemo_101816.html.


Recordkeeping Rule Another provision


in the new rule


requires certain employers to electron- ically submit injury and illness data that they are already required to record on their on-site OSHA Injury and Ill- ness forms. This provision does not apply to ASCs, as ASCs are not cur- rently required to submit this data.


14 ASC FOCUS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017|www.ascfocus.org


OSHA determines whether an industry is exempt from routinely keeping OSHA Form 300, OSHA Form 300A and OSHA Form 301 based on the classification determined by the North American Industry Clas- sification System (NAICS). NAICS is the standard used by federal statistical agencies in classifying business estab- lishments for collecting, analyzing and publishing statistical data related to the US business economy. For ASCs, the NAICS Code is 621493, as indicated at https://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/sssd/ naics/naicsrch. In January 2015, OSHA updated its list of industries that are par- tially exempt from keeping OSHA Form 300, OSHA Form 300A and OSHA Form 301. The com- plete updated list, which includes 83 types of employers, is avail- able at https://www.osha.gov/pls/ oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_


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