Congress Reins in OSHA Log 300 Rules

Cal-OSHA Reporter, 10 March 2017

The United States House of Representatives has voted to repeal – to rein in – a new Fed-OSHA rule on injury and illness recordkeeping. It is a certainty that Senate will follow suit and that President Donald Trump will sign it.  But what does this mean for Cal/OSHA and, more importantly, California employers?

Congress is busy repealing a range of regulations from the last days of the prior administration.  Mostly this is welcome news to businesses all over the country.  The OSHA rule in question became effective this January.  It requires employers to maintain records of recordable injuries and illnesses for five years.

The Feds could use those five years to cite an employer for even minor record-keeping violations, such as failing to include the title of the person signing the employer’s OSHA 300 log.  Fed-OSHA under the Obama administration adopted the rule out of what it called concern that companies were hiding injuries and illness.  Republicans call the regulation a ‘power grab’ by the agency. But there was a challenge to the regs.

In that case, Secretary of Labor v. AKM LLC, dba Volks Contractors, the U.S. Court of Appeal for the District of Columbia overturned a decision of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (the federal version of California’s Appeals Board).  It held that Fed-OSHA has no more than six months to cite an employer for record-keeping violations.  Under Obama, Fed-OSHA then responded to the decision by creating regulations that give the agency five years to cite.  That’s what Congress is overturning.