OSHA Extends Commenting Period For Injury Reporting Rule

The Occupational Safety and Healthy Administration (OSHA) has extending the public commenting period for a recently proposed rule that would improve the tracking of work-related injuries and illnesses.

OSHA first proposed the rule back in November, citing the need for greater bookkeeping when it comes to reporting injuries and illnesses in the workplace. The proposed rule would amend the current bookkeeping regulation, while also adding requirements for submitting work-related injuries and illnesses by employers.

From an outsider's perspective, this probably sounds like a smart move that would ultimately improve the working conditions for millions of employees in the U.S. By adding stricter regulations regarding bookkeeping, injuries and illnesses should go down. However, there's one major complaint that employers and even some employees have: the new rule would publish all work-related injuries and illnesses on OSHA's website for the public to freely access.

Aside from privacy concerns that employers and employees have, publishing this information online for the world to see could backfire and have the opposite effect as originally intended. If a company's past injuries and illnesses are posted online, the employer may discourage his or her workers from reporting incidents.

Because of this, OSHA has extended the public commenting period for its new bookkeeping rule. Officials hope to gather enough comments to make a better informed decision on whether or not this is the right approach. If enough people speak out against the new rule, OSHA may modify or scrap it altogether. On the other hand, if an overwhelming majority of comments support the new rule, OSHA may follow through with it. The public commenting period is an essential step in gauging how employers, workers, and the general public view the new rule.

"OSHA wants to make sure that employers, employees and the public have access to the most accurate data about injuries and illnesses in their workplaces so that they can take the most appropriate steps to protect worker safety and health," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels.

The public is encourages to share their opinions on the newly proposed rule either in electronic form or written letter at http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=OSHA-2013-0023-0001. Commenting will remain open until October 14, 2014, at which point it will close and OSHA will decide whether or not to pass the rule.

What do you think about OSHA's new injury reporting rule? Let us know in the comments section below!