OSHA's online injury and illness submission page is live

August 3rd, 2017 by Dakota Software Staff

On August 1, OSHA made their online Injury Tracking Application system live for use. The process is a way for employers to electronically submit injury and illness records from 2016, as previously reported.

Companies with over 250 employees are required to submit information from a few documents: Forms 300, 300A and 301. Employers with 20 to 249 employees in certain high-risk professions are only required to submit Form 300 A.

In both cases, submissions must be filed by the Dec. 1, 2017 deadline. In 2018, the deadline for all applicable businesses to submit the necessary forms is July 1. Then in 2019 and every year following, March 2 is the submission deadline.

OSHA is providing a secure web portal to submit documentation, one that does not require any special software to use.

The process involves four steps:

• Creating an "establishment," in other words, an account for the company.
• Adding a summary of all necessary form data.
• Submitting the data to OSHA.
• Receiving and reviewing submission confirmation email.

There are also multiple methods by which companies can submit their information through OSHA's online portal:

• Enter data into the web form manually.
• Upload a CSV file to submit data for one or multiple establishments simultaneously.
• Use an application programming interface to transmit data electronically, for those with automated records.

According to the agency, the entire submission process should take around 20 minutes for employers with 20-249 employees and just over 30 minutes for those with 250 and above.

OSHA notes the health and safety compliance forms can only be submitted online and cannot be accepted via paper. Employers without internet access or sufficient computers can use facilities at places such as libraries or internet cafes to comply with the mandate. The organization is also developing an interface to allow for submissions from mobile devices.

Integration with commercial EHS Software

Organizations who are managing their incidents with a commercial EHS software system, such as Dakota Software, are well positioned for the transition to electronic reporting. Dakota's Incident Management platform, which enables organizations to consolidate and streamline reporting of their OSHA 300, 300A, and 301 documents, will seamlessly transition to comply with the new electronic reporting requirements.

Additionally, Dakota's desktop and mobile tools simplify the reporting of incidents, near misses, and safety observations, and our patented business intelligence tools provide an elegantly simple method for analyzing safety trends, evaluating hazards, and pinpointing operational risks. Organizations who are armed with these types of tools should feel confident in their ability to meet changing compliance requirements and exceed their EHS performance goals.