Health & Safety Watch: OSHA Extends Deadline for Electronic Reporting

According to a statement from the U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA has extended the compliance date for employers affected by the new electronic reporting system to December 15, 2017. On this date, injury and illness data must be electronically submitted through the online Injury Tracking Application (ITA).

The original date for compliance was December 1, 2017, but OSHA is giving employers an additional 15 days to familiarize themselves with the new system, and it only affects those who are already required to submit injury and illness information.

In addition, the following states have not adopted ITA electronic reporting system unless the employer is under federal jurisdiction: California, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Businesses with 20 to 249 employees must electronically submit information from OSHA Form 300A – Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, while companies with 250 or more employees must submit the information from Form 300A and Form 300 – Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses.

The data due December 15 is for the 2016 calendar year. In 2018, affected employers must submit the required information for 2017 by July 1, and every year thereafter, the deadline is March 2.

The ITA currently allows for three types of data submission:

  1. Manual entry
  2. CSV file for single or multiple establishments
  3. API upload from an automated recordkeeping system