On May 12, 2016, OSHA revised its Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses regulation; the changes will come into effect January 2017. This revision requires employers in certain industries to submit illness and injury data via the OSHA 300 log electronically and then OSHA will share this information publicly. These changes don’t address the many underlying issues preventing the health and safety industry from improving.
There is a strong need for increased transparency, but in my experience, transparency is only truly achieved when the right information is being measured and the best practices are put in place first. There are two problems here: the metrics OSHA has chosen to make public are inadequate to inform safety policy. And while OSHA will require all forms to be submitted electronically, the status quo for managing safety in at-risk industries is still paper processes. I believe the OSHA’s final rule has fundamental flaws and will likely result in poor decisions by prospective employees, investors and their own enforcement teams.