OSHA Reopens Reporting Rule for More Comments
Comments will be accepted until Oct. 28 on the proposed requirement to report any work-related fatality or in-patient hospitalization within eight hours, and all work-related amputations within 24 hours, to the agency.
OSHA will accept comments until Oct. 28 on its proposed requirement that covered employers report any work-related fatality or in-patient hospitalization within eight hours, and all work-related amputations within 24 hours, to the agency. OSHA's notice said one entity, the National Automobile Dealers Association, asked for an extension to evaluate the BLS data on which OSHA's industry exemption analysis was based. Comments originally were due by Sept. 20.
Searching docket number OSHA-2010-0019 at www.regulations.gov is the method for submitting a comment electronically.
The changes would revise 29 CRP 1904.2, which partially exempts certain lower-hazard industries classified in SIC codes 52 through 89 from injury and illness recordkeeping requirements. Lower-hazard industries are those industries with an average Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred (DART) rate at or below 75 percent of the national average DART rate. The current list of partially exempt industries is based on injury and illness data compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 1997, 1998, and 1999, and OSHA wants to revise the list using the North American Industry Classification System and basing it on DART rates compiled by BLS for 2007, 2008, and 2009. Listed industries still have to keep records if requested to do so by BLS in connection with its Annual Survey or by OSHA in connection with its Data Initiative (29 CFR 1904.41).
The other change OSHA is proposing would revise 1904.39, which currently requires an employer to report to OSHA, within eight hours, all work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations of three or more employees. The proposed rule would require an employer to report to OSHA, within eight hours, all work-related fatalities and all work-related in-patient hospitalizations and, within 24 hours, all work- related amputations. OSHA has estimated the regulation will cost approximately $8.5 million annually and produce benefits worth significantly more.