Contractors could be subject to public reporting of workplace illness and injury information under a new proposed rule from the U.S. Department of Labor, taking OSHA’s Obama-era electronic injury reporting rule one step further.
“Under the Obama-era rule, all establishments covered by OSHA’s recordkeeping standards with 250 or more employees in industries covered by the recordkeeping regulation would have had to electronically submit to OSHA injury and illness information from OSHA Forms 300, 300A and 301, and establishments with 20 to 249 employees would have had to electronically submit information from OSHA Form 300A only,” says Micah Dickie, an associate at Fisher Phillips.
That rule was later rescinded under the Trump Administration so that only Form 300A, along with an employer’s EIN, had to be electronically submitted.
Under the new proposal, businesses with 100 or more employees in high-hazard industries – including construction – would be required to electronically submit additional information from their OSHA Forms 300, 301 and 300A, on top of the annual summary reporting.
And a failure to report could result in hefty fines for contractors.
“Contractors can incur penalties of up to $14,502 per violation for failing to comply with OSHA’s recordkeeping standard, and repeated failures can cost an employer up to $145,027 per violation,” Dickie says.
Industry groups have voiced concerns about the privacy implications the ruling could have for construction business owners. Associated Builders and Contractors says publishing the logs carries “risks for exposing confidential business information by posting parts of the submissions on a public website.”
