OSHA News

Record-Keeping Requirements Take Effect January 2002

OSHA has announced the revised record-keeping standard will largely go into effect as scheduled on January 1, 2002.

The revised rule, which updates OSHA's 30-year-old record-keeping requirements, is designed to simplify employers' record-keeping decision-making. For example, the agency has redesigned and simplified injury and illness logs and incident reports. In addition, the new rule eliminates different criteria for recording work-related injuries and work-related illnesses; one set of severity-related criteria will be used for both.

The revisions also eliminate the term "lost workdays" and focus on "days away from work" or "days restricted or transferred." The rule also clarifies the recording of "light-duty" or restricted-work cases. Employers must record such cases when an injured or ill worker is restricted from his or her "normal duties," which are defined as work activities the employee regularly performs at least once weekly.

OSHA is proposing two slight modifications to the rule:

• The criteria for recording work-related hearing loss would not be implemented for one year pending further investigation into the level of hearing loss that should be recorded as a "significant" health condition.

• There would be a one-year delay in the record-keeping rule's definition of "musculoskeletal disorder" (MSD) and the requirement that employers check the MSD column on the OSHA Log, due to OSHA's ongoing evaluation of the ergonomics issue.