On April 3rd, 2017 President Trump signed into law House Joint Resolution 83 (H.J. Res. 83), which declares the “Volks Rule” reviewed below invalid and no longer in effect.
Effective January 1st, 2017, OSHA required employers to submit their injury and illness reports electronically so that they could be uploaded to OSHA’s website, for the public to view. Establishments with 250 or more employees in industries covered by record keeping regulation were required to submit information from their 2016 Form 300A by July 1, 2017. Establishments with 20-249 employees in certain high-risk industries, were required to submit information from their 2016 Form 300A by July 1, 2017.
This revision was put in place with the intention of making employers, the public, and the government better informed about workplace hazards, and to encourage employers to improve workplace safety for its employees. Injury and illness reports were to be posted on job sites by February 1st.
OSHA provided a secure website that offered three options for data submission. First, users would be able to manually enter data into a webform. Second, users would be able to upload a CSV file to process single or multiple establishments at the same time. Last, users of automated recordkeeping systems would have the ability to transmit data electronically via an API (application programming interface). The website was scheduled to go live in February 2017.
If you have any questions regarding current OSHA record-keeping requirements or the revoked Volks Rule above, please contact our office to speak with one of our HR business partners at 631-794-7400.
