OSHA Outlines Survey Supporting I2P2
The statistical survey would involve 14,202 respondents, and 85 case study interviews would be conducted asking about safety and health practices on farms with more than 10 workers and at state and local governmental agencies in state plan states.
OSHA is about to launch a survey and conduct interviews to gain information needed to support its injury and illness prevention program (I2P2) rulemaking, which its leader, Dr. David Michaels, MPH, Ph.D., has identified as a top priority. A Federal Register notice published Thursday explained the planned data collection.
The survey would ask 14,202 respondents in non-agricultural workplaces about their safety and health practices. OSHA said the goal is "to develop industry-specific, statistically accurate estimates of the current prevalence of a variety of baseline safety and health practices that may be elements of injury and illness prevention programs among establishments." In addition, 85 case study interviews will ask about safety and health practices on farms with more than 10 workers and at state and local governmental agencies in state plan states, and as many as 50 site visits will be made to ask employers how they would comply with an I2P2 rule and what it would cost them in time and money.
"Site visit reports capture much richer detail about employer conditions than the survey instrument, reflecting variations of employer size and industry sector. These site visits would be conducted either by OSHA personnel or a contractor under the agency's direction," OSHA said in the announcement.
The announcement was made because OSHA has requested OMB approval of this one-time collection of information via the survey. Completing the survey and the case study interviews will require about 30 minutes, according to OSHA, but it estimates an hour for state and local government interviews. The site visits will take two hours.