If you’re a small business owner who’ll be affected by OSHA’s proposal to add a musculoskeletal column to injury/illness logs, the agency wants to hear from you.
OSHA, in partnership with the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, will hold three teleconferences in April in an effort to solicit input from the small business community.
The proposal that will be the subject of those teleconferences would require those employers who are already required to keep injury and illness records to add the step of checking a column when recording work-related musculoskeletal disorders.
Small businesses from around the country are encouraged to participate in the teleconferences. The first will be held on Monday, April 11 at 1:30 p.m. E.D.T. The second and third will be held Tuesday, April 12, 2011, at 9 a.m. E.D.T and 1:30 p.m. E. D.T. Participants may provide input about their experiences in recording work-related MSDs and how they believe the proposed rule would affect them.
The proposed rule only covers MSDs that employers are already required to record under the longstanding OSHA rule on recordkeeping. Prior to 2001, OSHA's injury and illness logs contained a column for repetitive trauma disorders that included hearing loss and many kinds of MSDs. In 2001, OSHA proposed separating hearing loss and MSDs into two columns, but the MSD column was deleted in 2003 before the provision became effective. OSHA's proposal would restore the MSD column to the Form 300.
Businesses that wish to participate in one of the teleconferences should contact Regina Powers atpowers.regina@dol.govby April 4, and indicate the teleconference in which they wish to participate.
