Most important, transferring the recording/reporting function from the supervising employer to the leasing firm would undermine rather than facilitate one of the most important goals of Part 1904 -- to assure that work-related injury and illness information gets to the employer who can use it to abate work-related hazards. An employee hurts his or her left arm and is told by the doctor not to use the left arm for one week. Question 29-4. In this case, the employer is the ultimate recordkeeping decision-maker and must resolve the differences in opinion; he or she may turn to a third HCP for this purpose, or may make the recordability decision himself or herself. In its 1996 Federal Register notice OSHA proposed a requirement to record hearing loss averaging 15 dB at 2000, 3000 and 4000 Hz in one or both ears (61 FR 4040). The provisions of the final rule requiring the employer to review the Log entries before totaling them for the Annual Summary are intended as an additional quality control measure that will improve the accuracy of the information in the Annual Summary, which is posted to provide information to employees and is also used as a data source by OSHA and the BLS. Phobias: OSHA has not included an exception from recording in the final recordkeeping regulation for phobias or any other type of mental illness. Paragraph (b) contains provisions implementing this basic requirement. II. Question 5-4. Waiting for one year or longer to record an occupational hearing loss would move the recording to a year in which the original hearing loss was not initially discovered, would be administratively more complex for employers, and would have a detrimental effect on the hearing loss data. The employer may correct the employee's audiogram results for aging, using the same methods allowed by the OSHA Noise standard (29 CFR 1910.95). Employers must maintain records for all employees covered by the Employment Act. At the end of each calendar year, section 1904.32 of the final rule requires each covered employer to review his or her OSHA 300 Log for completeness and accuracy and to prepare an Annual Summary of the OSHA 300 Log using the form OSHA 300-A, Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, or an equivalent form. This separate listing is needed to allow a government representative to obtain the employee's name during a workplace inspection in case further investigation is warranted and to assist employers to keep track of such cases in the event that future revisions to the entry become necessary. Doing so will improve the Nation's statistical information on occupational hearing loss, facilitate analysis of hearing loss data at individual workplaces, and improve the Agency's ability to assess this common occupational disorder. Second, for the definition of restricted work to apply, the work restriction must be decided on by the employer, based on his or her best judgment or on the recommendation of a physician or other licensed health care professional. On the other hand, if the employee were at the employer's establishment outside his or her assigned working hours to attend a company business meeting or a company training session, such a slip or fall would be work-related. [T]he Agency believes that the 7 calendar-day rule will provide employers sufficient time to receive information and record the case. OSHA believes that few variances or exceptions will be granted under the variance procedures of the final rule because other provisions of the final rule already reflect many of the alternative recordkeeping procedures that employers have asked to use over the years, such as electronic storage and transmission of data, centralized record maintenance, and the use of alternative recordkeeping forms. While a State Plan must assure that all employee participation and access rights are assured, the State may provide broader access to records by employees and their representatives. OSHA believes that the information found in several other data fields on the 301 Form (e.g., the employee's name, address, and date of birth) provides sufficient information to identify injured or ill individuals while protecting the confidentiality of social security numbers. How Long to Keep Employee Files. Several commenters asked that treatments for two specific types of disorders be added to the list: heat disorders and burns. Question 39-6. Soft or hard copy, including handwritten. Additionally, the instructions for the OSHA 300-A Summary form include a worksheet to help the employer calculate the total numbers of hours worked and the average number of employees covered by the log. Section 1904.41 Annual OSHA injury and illness survey of ten or more employers. Question 29-2. Since, as discussed above, TB infection is clearly a serious condition, it is non-minor and must be recorded. Under paragraph 1904.29(b)(9), the employer may use some discretion in describing a privacy concern case on the log so the employee cannot be identified. And if you accidentally leave it out for eight hours? The employer must also keep a separate, confidential list of these privacy concern cases, and the list must include the employee's name and the case number from the OSHA 300 Log. The employer must check the single box that reflects the most severe outcome associated with a given injury or illness. The standard measurement for measuring hearing level is decibels, a logarithmic scale. The same problem arises when an employee reports symptoms of a contagious disease that affects the public at large, such as a staphylococcus infection ("staph" infection) or Lyme disease, and the workplace is only one possible source of the infection. However, the Guidelines also stated that "certain illnesses, such as silicosis, may have prolonged effects which recur over time. Another addition to the final rule makes explicit that OSHA can provide additional public notice via the Federal Register and may offer additional opportunity for public comment. If an employee's fingernail was punctured and became infected by a needle from a sewing machine used to perform garment work at home, the injury would be considered work-related. These results are not considered work-related for the purposes of the current employer's Log because the test result cannot be the result of an event or exposure in the current employer's work environment. The rule prohibits the employer from entering the name of the affected employee on the Log to protect the individual's privacy; employees are understandably sensitive about others knowing that they may have contracted a bloodborne disease. Section 1904.35 accords employees and their representatives three separate access rights. For the first increase in hearing level from 0 to 10 dB, the sound intensity increases 10 fold. Inform each employee of how to report workrelated injuries and illnesses. This provision is consistent with the Occupational Noise standard, and it allows the employer not to record a hearing loss case that is not related to workplace events or exposures; examples of such cases are hearing loss cases occurring before the employee is hired or those unrelated to workplace noise. You may use the 300 Log to meet the requirements of the sharps injury log provided you enter the type and brand of the device causing the sharps injury on the Log and you maintain your records in a way that segregates sharps injuries from other types of work-related injuries and illnesses, or allows sharps injuries to be easily separated. A 33.8-ounce bottle costs less than $15.A warehouse club membership could save you moneyIf you want to reduce your grocery spending, consider investing in a warehouse club membership. Therefore, Section 1904.10(b)(4) states that "If subsequent audiometric testing indicates that an STS is not persistent, you may erase or line-out the recorded entry". In this situation, the employer need not count days on which the employee would have been able to work, but did not, because the facility was closed, or the employee was not scheduled to work, or for other reasons unrelated to the injury or illness After a review of the evidence submitted to the record, OSHA has decided to include in the final rule a provision that allows the employer to stop counting days away from work or restricted workdays when the case has reached 180 days After careful consideration, OSHA has decided to cap the day counts at 180 days and to express the count as days rather than months OSHA has decided to cap the counts at 180 days to eliminate any effect such capping might have on the median days away from work data reported by BLS Paragraph 1904.7(b)(4) Restricted Work or Transfer to Another Job. OSHA Directive STD 0.2 Identification of General Industry Safety and Health Standards (29 CFR 1910) Applicable to Shipyard Work specifically states that employers in the shipbuilding industry that are covered by the 29 CFR part 1915 Standards are required to comply with a number of 29 CFR Part 1910 standards, including the Section 1910.95 requirements for occupational noise. It is typical, but not always the case, for individuals with these conditions to be symptom-free if exposure to the sensitizing or precipitating agent does not occur. Can I use the OSHA 300 Log to meet the Bloodborne Pathogen Standard's requirement for a sharps injury log? In short, unless you're running a school cafeteria, a massive quantity of mayo may not be a good buy. OSHA defines in-patient hospitalization as a formal admission to the in-patient service of a hospital or clinic for care or treatment. Paragraphs 1904.7(b)(3)(ii) and (iii) direct employers how to record days-away cases when a physician or other licensed health care professional (HCP) recommends that the injured or ill worker stay at home or that he or she return to work but the employee chooses not to do so. When evaluating the work relatedness of a given hearing loss case, the employer should take several factors into account. The section also states that the employer "should ensure that the employee complies with the [recommended] restriction." Ryan Lasker is an SMB accounting expert writing for The Ascent and The Motley Fool. On the other hand, if a chiropractor provides medical treatment or prescribes work restrictions, the case would be recordable. Employers in the construction, agriculture, oil and gas drilling and servicing, are not covered by Section 1910.95, and therefore are not required by OSHA to provide hearing tests. Paragraph (b)(3) of Section 1904.8 contains requirements for updating the OSHA 300 Log when a worker experiences a wound caused by a contaminated needle or sharp and is later diagnosed as having a bloodborne illness, such as AIDS, hepatitis B or hepatitis C. The final rule requires the employer to update the classification of such a privacy concern case on the OSHA 300 Log if the outcome of the case changes, i.e., if it subsequently results in death, days away from work, restricted work, or job transfer. If the employer does not have this knowledge, and elects not to contact the health care professional, OSHA would expect the employer to refer to the first aid list and, if the procedure is not on the list, to presume that the procedure is medical treatment and record the case OSHA agrees with those commenters who recommended the exclusion of diagnostic procedures from the definition of medical treatment. How Long to Keep Employee Files The length of time you need to hold onto employee records depends on the type of document and your state and local regulations. If these cases are not recorded, the Nation's injury and illness statistics could be skewed. In Michigan, people can no longer use trespassing laws to avoid being served court papers at their doors. Accordingly, for recordkeeping purposes, the final rule includes company parking lots and access roads in the definition of establishment. Paragraph 1904.7(b)(3)(vi) allows the employer to stop counting the days away from work when the injury or illness has resulted in 180 calendar days away from work. Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York have plans that cover State and local government employees only. those parking areas where the employer can limit access (such as parking lots limited to the employer's employees and visitors). Timesheets: two years. The following chart includes federal requirements for record-keeping and retention of employee files and other employment-related records. The cases would be recorded on either the log of the year in which the injury or illness occurred or the last date of employment. None of the commenters supported the presumption, while many opposed it. The em-ployer may wish, in such cases, to keep records of the investigation and determination. The single column for respiratory conditions on the new OSHA Form 300 will capture data on respiratory conditions that were formerly captured in two separate columns,i.e., the columns for respiratory conditions due to toxic agents (formerly column 7c) and for dust diseases of the lungs (formerly column 7b). If employees fail to report their injuries and illnesses, the "picture" of the workplace that the employer's OSHA forms 300 and 301 reveal will be inaccurate and misleading. Every time you process payroll, your payroll software produces and saves a copy of each employees pay stub, which lists the employees gross wages, payroll taxes, and payroll deductions. OSHA believes, that non-minor illnesses resulting from an exposure in the work environment are work-related and therefore recordable unless a specific exemption to the presumption applies. In the final rule, OSHA has decided to retain item 13 essentially as proposed, and this first aid treatment appears as item K on the first aid list. They include (1) the identification of petitioning employers' pending citations in State plan states, (2) the discretion given to OSHA not to consider a petition if a citation on the same subject matter is pending, (3) the clarification that OSHA may provide additional notice via the Federal Register and opportunity for comment, (4) the clarification that variances have only prospective effect, (5) the opportunity of employees and their representatives to participate in revocation procedures, and (6) the voiding of all previous variances and exceptions OSHA has decided, to continue to include a specific recordkeeping variance section in the final rule, and not to require employers who wish a recordkeeping variance or exception to follow the more rigorous procedures in 29 CFR Part 1905. OSHA has, however, added a new column specifically to capture hearing loss cases on the OSHA 300 Log. We are continuing to work on methods to reduce further the numbers of employers who receive both BLS and OSHA survey requests. Many work- related injury and illness cases would be excluded from the recordkeeping system if cases were only considered to be work-related when they occurred in clusters or epidemics. Accordingly, the final rule does not rely on workers' compensation determinations to identify injuries or illness cases that are to be considered new cases for recordkeeping purposes OSHA has not included any provisions in the final rule that require an employer to rely on a physician or other licensed health care professional or that tell a physician or other licensed health care professional how to treat an injured or ill worker, or when to begin or end such treatment. The employee social security number has been removed for privacy reasons. In some cases, identifying temporary or contract workers may help an employer to manage safety and health more effectively. However, this is not the only function of the records. 673). OSHA believes that employee involvement is essential to the success of all aspects of an employer's safety and health program. In these situations, the Standard Industrial Classification Manual (OMB 1987) allows a single business location to be classified as two separate establishments, each with its own SIC code. The following discussion describes the definitions of first aid and medical treatment in the final rule and explains the Agency's reasons for including each item on the first aid list. PDF Federal Record Retention Requirements - Society for Human Resource This section of the rule does not impose any new obligations on employers or create new rights for employees that did not previously exist. OSHA's rule for access to employee exposure and medical records (Section 1910.1020) requires employers to provide access to medical records, exposure records, and analyses of records to employee's and their designated representatives. As discussed above, OSHA has elected to continue to use a broad definition of illness or injury. Federal regulations state you must retain a Form I-9 for each person you hire for three years after the date of hire, or one year after the date employment ends, whichever is later. Paragraph 1904.6(b)(3) addresses how to record a case for which the employer requests a physician or other licensed health care professional (HCP) to make a new case/continuation of an old case determination. Under paragraph 1904.5(b)(1), the "work environment" means "the establishment and other locations where one or more employees are working or are present as a condition of their employment. Question 5-2. Rep. No. No. Is this a recordable event on the OSHA log? In the case of prescription medications, OSHA considers that medical treatment is provided once a prescription is issued. Section 1904.36 does not create a new obligation on employers. Many of the OSHA standards that contain medical removal provisions are related to specific chemical substances, such as lead (29 CFR 1901.1025), cadmium (29 CFR 1910.1027), methylene chloride (29 CFR 1910.1052), formaldehyde (29 CFR 1910.1048), and benzene (29 CFR 1910.1028). This paragraph recognizes that there are occupational illnesses that may be diagnosed at some stage of the disease and may then progress without regard to workplace events or exposures. Question 39-7. However, OSHA does encourage employers to analyze their injury and illness data to improve safety and health at the establishment. Some states, such as New York and Illinois, have lengthier payroll record retention periods than the federal government. A case involving an employee who does not test positive for exposure/infection would not be recordable because the employee is not injured or ill. This seemingly straightforward process can become complex when employees start work early or leave late, travel for business, participate in company trainings, and use mobile devices to remain . Massage therapy: OSHA believes that massages are appropriately considered first aid and has included them as item M in the final rule's first aid list. Are injuries and illnesses recordable if they occurred during employment, but were not discovered until after the injured or ill employee was terminated or retired? For example, a burn injury from a hair dryer used at work to dry the employee's hair would not be work-related. Question 7-21. The list above isnt exhaustive. If the employee exposed to a substance exhibits symptoms of an injury or illness, the administration of oxygen makes the case recordable. (C) "First aid" as defined in paragraph (b)(5)(ii) of this section. The audiometric test records must be retained for the duration of the affected employee's employment. Every January, you send to the IRS and each independent contractor a Form 1099-NEC (before 2020, youd use Form 1099-MISC), which summarizes the contractors earnings of $600 or more for the previous year. In addition to establishing the basic requirements for employers to keep records on the OSHA 300 Log and OSHA 301 Incident Report and providing basic instructions on how to complete these forms, this section of the rule states that employers may use two lines of the OSHA 300 Log to describe an injury or illness, if necessary Paragraph 1904.29(b)(3) establishes the requirement for how quickly each recordable injury or illness must be recorded into the records. For illnesses that are caused by long-term exposures or which have long latency periods, the illness will most likely be detected during a visit to a physician or other health care professional, and the employee is most likely to report it to his or her supervisor at the home work location. Despite cases such as these, inclusion of this data field on the Form 301 will allow the Agency to collect valid data on length of time on the job for most employment situations. Chart of Recordkeeping Requirements The following chart outlines some of the more common records and the current federal and New York State requirements for retaining them. The question is whether or not the new symptoms, back pain, are continuing symptoms of the old injury, or whether they represent a new injury that should be evaluated for its recordability as a new case. If the employer elects to retest, the employer need not record the case until the retest is completed. Purchase rewards from credit cards stack on top of any other type of deal or discount. The benefits of simplification and clarity do not outweigh the potential damage to the informational value of the records, for the reasons discussed below. (v) Injuries and illnesses will not be considered work-related if they are solely the result of employees doing personal tasks (unrelated to their employment) at the establishment outside of their assigned working hours. (State Plans must extend their coverage to State and local government employees, workers not otherwise covered by Federal OSHA regulations.) 29 U.S.C. OSHA is persuaded that updating the year-end summary would provide little benefit as long as the information from which the summaries are derived (the OSHA Form 300) is updated for a full five-year period [T]he final rule makes it clear that employers may, if they choose, update either the Summary or the Form 301. OSHA believes that capturing cases where counseling was the only treatment provided do not rise to the level of recording; other counseling cases, where prescription medications, days away from work, or restricted work activity is involved, would be captured under those criteria OSHA believes that visits to a health care professional for observation, testing, diagnosis, or to evaluate diagnostic decisions should be excluded from the definition of medical treatment in the final rule. A work restriction that is made for another reason, such as to meet reduced production demands, is not a recordable restricted work case. Preparing the Annual Summary requires four steps: reviewing the OSHA 300 log, computing and entering the summary information on the Form 300-A, certification, and posting. In such cases, if the employee's work-related illness or injury played any role in the restriction, OSHA considers the case to be a restricted work case. Accord-ingly, Section 1904.10(b)(3) allows the employer to adjust for aging when determining the recordability of hearing loss. Employers are allowed to cap the number of days away and/or restricted work/job transfer when a case involves 180 calendar days. When To Dispose of Terminated Employees' Data - Execustaff HR Member's Mark's toilet paper gets a very high rating -- 4.8 stars -- from more than 10,000 satisfied users. However, the label assigned to a worker is immaterial if it does not reflect the economic realities of the relationship. If oxygen is administered as a purely precautionary measure to an employee who does not exhibit any symptoms of an injury or illness, the case is not recordable. Using the baseline audiogram taken upon employment reduces the effect of any prior hearing loss the employee may have experienced, whether it is non-occupational hearing loss or occupational hearing loss caused by previous employment. The following example illustrates the distinction OSHA is making about inoculations and immunizations: if a health care worker is given a hepatitis B shot when he or she is first hired, the action is considered first aid and the case would not be recordable; on the other hand, if the same health care worker has been occupationally exposed to a splash of potentially contaminated blood and a hepatitis B shot is administered as prophylaxis, the shot constitutes medical treatment and the case is recordable OSHA believes that cleaning, flushing or soaking of wounds on the skin surface is the initial emergency treatment for almost all surface wounds and that these procedures do not rise to the level of medical treatment. The recordkeeping provisions in section 1904.10 of the final recordkeeping rule thus match the provisions of the Occupational Noise standard by (1) covering the same employers and employees (with the exception of cases occurring among employees not covered by that standard whose employers have audiometric test results and high-noise workplaces); (2) using the same measurements of workplace noise; (3) using a common definition of hearing loss, i.e., the STS; (4) using the same hearing loss measurement methods; (5) using the same definitions of baseline audiogram and revised baseline audiogram; (6) using the same method to account for age correction in audiogram results; and (7) allowing certain temporary threshold shifts to be set aside if a subsequent audiogram demonstrates that they are not permanent or a physician or other licensed health care professional finds they are not related to workplace noise exposure As is the case for many OSHA rules, the 1981 Noise standard was challenged in the courts, which stayed several provisions.