’Tis the Season for OSHA Electronic Reporting!

January 26th, 2021 by Dakota Software Staff

While the holiday season may have come to an end, another important season has just begun for those in the environment, health, and safety (EHS) profession: OSHA reporting season! Now's the time for all of your diligent recordkeeping for the past year to be submitted—are you prepared?

We’re all hoping for a better 2021 after a difficult, exhausting 2020. But before we can completely put last year behind us, it’s important to properly submit your organization’s injury and illness data, more commonly known as the OSHA Form 300A. This is done electronically via OSHA’s Injury Tracking Application (ITA), and while OSHA provides extensive guidance on proper usage of the system as well as details on what data to report, here are a few key compliance points to remember as you prepare your end-of-year reporting.

Who Needs to Report—and When?

The first and foremost things to know are whether your organization is a covered establishment under the reporting rule and when you must electronically report your OSHA Form 300A data.

• Who needs to report? If your company employs 250 or more workers and is currently required to maintain injury and illness records, then you must electronically submit OSHA Form 300A data; smaller establishments employing 20–249 workers in designated industries listed at 29 CFR 1904.41 Appendix A are also required to electronically submit records. If your business is in a State Plan state, you may also be subject to this requirement, but industry coverage requirements vary—contact your State Plan office for detailed information on your specific obligations.
  (Note for Federal Agencies: You should not use the ITA to submit injury and illness data. These entities have different reporting requirements; click here to learn more.)

• What’s the deadline? Collection of OSHA Form 300A data began on January 2, 2021, and the deadline for electronically reporting your organization’s records is March 2, 2021.

How to Report: 3 Options

Once you’ve determined that your organization is subject to electronic reporting, you can complete the task via OSHA’s secure ITA website, which offers three options for data submission:

• Manual data entry into a web form.

• Uploading a CSV file to process multiple establishments at the same time.

• Users of automated recordkeeping systems will have the ability to transmit data electronically via an API (application programming interface).

While OSHA notes that special software is not required in order to submit the Form 300A data, the process is certainly simplified when using a dedicated safety data solution—another signal of technology’s increasing importance within the EHS space.

Start 2021 on the Right Foot

As with many other compliance matters, EHS managers have a lot of questions about OSHA electronic recordkeeping and reporting. There are many resources that offer helpful tips, and OSHA also offers a 20-minute tutorial on recordkeeping. While the process may feel complex and at times overwhelming, the accurate tracking of safety data plays a key role in workplace safety improvements nationwide. With the right technological partners, EHS professionals can rest assured that they will remain compliant and continue to drive positive results for their organizations.