Pub. 5 2016-2017 Issue 2

Fall 2016 27 First-Aid Not Recordable on Log 300: First-aid is https:// www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/firstaid_list.pdf. Serious Injury: Call your local OSHA office to report serious injury. California and Federal definitions of serious injury differ. California Code on reporting serious injury is https://www.dir.ca.gov/title8/342. html. Also, see newsletter at http://epaoshablog.com/2014/10/23/ accident-reporting-to-osha-injury-log-requirements/. Commentary: The forms are provided as a tool for the employer to document injuries, inform employees of accidents at the facility and allow OSHA inspectors to obtain a quick summary of accidents at the workplace. Employers must use this log as a management tool to gauge the nature and frequency of injuries in order to determine corrective measures for accident elimination, and to counsel employees who show up on the accident log on a repeated basis. Certain highlights of the forms are as follows: • Requires records to include any work-related injury or illness resulting in one of the following: death, days away fromwork, restricted work or transfer to another job, medical treatment beyond first-aid, loss of consciousness, or diagnosis of a significant injury or illness by a physician or other licensed health care professional. • Requires a significant degree of aggravation before a preexisting injury or illness becomes recordable. • Requires employers to record cases when injured or ill employees are restricted from their “normal duties,”which are defined as work activities employees regularly perform at least once per week. • You may stop counting days of restricted work activity or days away fromwork once the total of either or the combination of both reaches 180 days. • Focus on days away or days restricted or transferred. Rules rely on calendar days instead of workdays! • Requires employers to establish a procedure for employees to report injuries and illnesses and to tell their employees how to report. Employers are prohibited from discriminating against employees who report. Employee representatives will have access to those parts of OSHA Form 301 relevant to the employees they represent. • Protects employee privacy by (1) prohibiting employers fromentering an individual’s name on Form 300 for certain types of injuries or illnesses (i.e. sexual assault, HIV infection, mental illness, etc.); (2) providing employers the right not to describe the nature of sensitive injuries in which the employees’identity would be known; (3) giving employee representatives access only to the portion of Form 301 which contains no personal identifiers; and (4) requiring employers to remove employees’names before providing the data to persons not provided access rights under the rule. • Requires the annual summary to be posted from February 1 to April 30 in the following year. Requires certification of the summary by a company executive. Minor Case Study: An employee trips in the service driveway of your dealership during normal course of business. Employee states that his knee is hurt and the employee seeksmedical treatment. Employee comes back to work the next day but continues treatment of mas- sage therapy, pain killers, and physiotherapy. After 6 months, the MD states that only surgery can cure the knee problem and the employee proceeds with knee surgery. The issue is whether this knee accident is nowOSHA reportable as a serious accident. The answer is yes. Cal/OSHA must be informed of this accident under the serious injury reporting statutes. Electronic Recordkeeping Submission: Establishments with 250 or more employees that are currently required to keep OSHA injury and illness records must electronically submit information from OSHA Forms 300 — Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, 300A — Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, and 301 — Injury and Illness Incident Report. See https://www.osha.gov/Publications/ OSHA3862.pdf. Information fromwww.osha.govwas used to prepare part of this newsletter. Employersmust consult their lawyer for legal matters and safety consultants for matters related to safety. The article was authored by SamCelly of Celly Services, Inc. who has been helping automobile dealers comply with EPA & OSHA regulations since 1987. Sam received his BE (1984) and MS (1986) in Chemical Engineering followed by a J.D. fromSouthwesternUniversity School of Law (1997). Our newsletters can be accessed at www.epaoshablog.com. Your comments/questions are always welcome. Please send them to sam@ cellyservices.com. The issue is whether this knee accident is now OSHA reportable as a serious accident. The answer is yes. Cal/OSHA must be informed of this accident under the serious injury reporting statutes.