On August 1, 2017 OSHA is officially launching their web-based data submission form, what they call the Injury Tracking Application (ITA). It is an online application where businesses who are affected by the Electronic Record-keeping OSHA policy, will submit their injury and illness data electronically. Specifically, the ITA will serve as a platform for the completed 2016 OSHA 300A as required by the policy.
The ITA is expected to improve worker safety by making safety record public and demanding more accountability from the employers. OSHA hopes that the new electronic recordkeeping will create competition among organizations to achieve the better safety record.
Who is affected by the OSHA Policy?
Any establishments with 250 or more employees or any establishment with 20-249 employees, in certain industries with historically high rates of injuries required to submit data electronically.
- Businesses with 250 and more employees will submit the following forms: OSHA 300, 301 and the 300A.
- Smaller companies covered (20-249 employees) in the OSHA rule will only submit the OSHA 300A, for now.
When does the OSHA Policy go into affect?
During its official publication, OSHA set the initial deadline of submission on July 1, 2017. However, with the goal of providing businesses enough time to familiarize themselves with the new system, OSHA extended the deadline for submission to December 1, 2017.
How will it work?
Employers have three options to submit the data via the ITA. First option is to manually input all the given data using the online form provided. The second option involves physically uploading a CSV file to the online form each time. The final option is to submit the data using an Application Programming Interface (API) like Sospes. Sospes is OSHA policy ready, as it collects safety data, organizes it into your OSHA forms (300, 301 & 300A) and can be easily export the data which saves time and effort.
Getting started…
No matter how you plan on submitting your data, there are a few initial steps that you must take. First, establishments must be registered to the web application. Then, businesses can begin adding their 300A summary data. Once that data is submitted to OSHA, they will review the data and send a confirmation email to your organization. It is quite likely that there will be a few hiccups along the way since this is a pretty major regulation.
Now is the time to begin getting prepared to make this whole transition easier for yourself. We recommend looking at the Sospes safety software, which can help you get compliant quickly. Sospes is a quick and easy implementation after which you can collect all your safety data from your mobile device and have it automatically organized it for you.
