Author, Alyssa Burley, Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.
In April 2018, federal OSHA announced all affected employers are required to submit injury and illness data (i.e., Form 300A data) via the Injury Tracking Application (ITA) online portal by July 1, 2018, even if the employer is covered by a state plan like those in California, Maryland, Minnesota, South Carolina, Utah, Washington or Wyoming.
Cal/OSHA then issued a statement in May 2018, advising affected employers “to comply with federal OSHA’s directive to provide Form 300A data covering calendar year 2017," even though it was not a Cal/OSHA requirement.
“On November 1, 2018,” according to the Cal/OSHA website, “the Office of Administrative Law approved the emergency action. This means that the employers in California described below are now required to submit Form 300A data covering calendar year 2017 by December 31, 2018. These employers should follow the instructions posted at federal OSHA's ITA website:
Check Appendix H for your industry. It includes industries like: Construction; Community/Nursing/Residential Care facilities; Community Food/Housing Relief Services; and many more.
All employers with 250 or more employees, unless specifically exempted by section 14300.2 of title 8 of the California Code of Regulations
Employers with 20 to 249 employees in the specific industries listed in Appendix H of the emergency regulations.”
This emergency action by the Office of Administrative Law brings Cal/OSHA’s requirements up to the federal OSHA’s minimum standards, with one difference. Federal OSHA required affected employers covered by state plans to submit the 2017 Form 300A data electronically by July 1, 2018, while this new action requires affected California employers to submit the data by December 31, 2018.
Since the Federal OSHA deadline has already passed, it is recommended that all affected employers in California who have not already submitted the 2017 Form 300A data via the ITA, submit it as soon as possible, but no later than December 31, 2018.
Next year, the deadline for electronically submitting 2018 Form 300A data will be March 2, 2019.
Rancho Mesa has put together a 9-minute tutorial video on how to generate the electronic Form 300A data file from the Risk Management Center, that can be uploaded to the ITA website for reporting the data.
For questions about how to track the injury and illness data in the Risk Management Center, contact Alyssa Burley at (619) 438-6869.