On June 30, ABC submitted comments on the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s proposed amendments to its occupational injury and illness recordkeeping regulation and urged the agency to withdraw the harmful rule.

“ABC is disappointed that the Biden administration is moving forward with a new rule to undo the ABC-supported provisions of the 2019 final rule under the Trump administration and reprise the 2016 Obama-era rule,” ABC wrote to OSHA.

“Similar to the 2016 final rule, which ABC objected to, the Biden administration proposed rule does nothing to achieve OSHA’s stated goal of reducing injuries and illnesses. Instead, the proposal will force employers to disclose sensitive information to the public that can easily be manipulated, mischaracterized and misused for reasons wholly unrelated to safety, as well as subject employers to illegitimate attacks and employees to violations of their privacy,” ABC said.

In addition, ABC submitted comments to OSHA as a steering committee member of the Coalition for Workplace Safety. In the comments, ABC and 61 organizations expressed deep concerns with the agency’s attempt to require electronic submission of employer summary data and individual employee injury and illness data. 

The proposed rule would require establishments with 100 or more employees in certain designated industries to electronically submit information from their OSHA Forms 300, 301 and 300A to OSHA once a year. Establishments with 20 or more employees in certain industries would continue to be required to electronically submit information from their OSHA Form 300A annual summary to OSHA once a year.

OSHA intends to post the data from the proposed annual electronic submission requirement on a public website. The DOL indicates it will remove injury and illness information that reasonably identifies individuals directly, such as individuals’ names and contact information, and share the information on a public website. However, ABC has serious concerns because of the confidential business details included in the form and the high risk of disclosure.

OSHA’s electronic injury reporting rule was first issued during the Obama era, and ABC filed a lawsuit against it. In 2019, the Trump-era DOL issued the Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses Final Rule, which amended the Obama-era final rule and eliminated the requirement for establishments with 250 or more employees to electronically submit information from OSHA Form 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) and OSHA Form 301 (Injury and Illness Incident Report) to OSHA annually. Under the 2019 final rule, covered establishments are only required to electronically submit information from OSHA Form 300A (Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) to OSHA.

Learn more about OSHA’s Injury and Illness Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements.