Electronic reporting rule leaves OMB

Posted July 14, 2023

On July 11, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completed its review of OSHA’s revised electronic reporting rule. OSHA will now need to schedule the rule for publication in the Federal Register. That publication could take a few weeks or a few months, but OSHA most likely wants this rule to take effect before January 1, 2024.

Based on the proposed rule, two categories of employers will need to electronically report injury data. Reporting obligations are based on the number of employees at each establishment, which OSHA defines as a single physical location. Employers with multiple establishments may have different obligations for each location. In short:

• Establishments with 20 or more employees will need to file the 300A if the location’s North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code is listed in the new Appendix A.
• Establishments with 100 or more employees will need to file the 300 Log, 301 forms, and 300A if the location’s NAICS code is listed in the new Appendix B.

For example, all manufacturing establishments (NAICS codes starting with 31, 32, or 33) that have 20 or more employees will need to submit the 300A. However, only manufacturers listed in Appendix B will need to submit the additional forms. Based on the proposed rule:

• NAICS code 322 for paper manufacturing does not appear in Appendix B, so those establishments need only submit the 300A even if the location has more than 100 employees.
• NAICS code 325 for chemical manufacturing does not appear in Appendix B, so again, they’ll only submit the 300A even if the location has more than 100 employees.
• NAICS code 3325 for hardware manufacturing does appear in Appendix B. If such an establishment has 100 or more employees, it must submit the 300 Log, 301 forms, and the 300A.

Again, the number of employees at each establishment is key. To illustrate, NAICS code 4413 for automotive and tire stores appears in both appendices, so reporting obligations will depend on the number of employees.

• If a store has fewer than 20 employees, it does not need to report anything. Only locations with 20 or more employees must report.
• If an establishment has 20 or more employees (but fewer than 100 employees) the employer will need to submit the 300A.
• If an establishment has 100 or more employees, the employer would need to electronically submit the 300 Log, 301 forms, and the 300A.

Note that OSHA previously used the 2012 version of the NAICS list, but will update to the 2017 version. Most industry codes did not change, but some codes were updated. Employers should check which 2017 NAICS code best fits each establishment.

The above examples are based on OSHA’s proposed rule published on March 30, 2022. It is possible that the final rule will revise the appendices from the proposed rule, potentially adding or removing some establishments from each list.

This article was written by Ed Zalewski of J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc.