"Every year, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration sends letters to approximately 80,000 employers across the country requesting their injury and illness data from the previous year. This is reported in what's known in the industry as the 300 Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses. From this data, OSHA picks 14,000 workplaces with the highest incident rates. Not only are these workplaces listed on OSHA's website, but from the 14,000 workplaces listed, 4,500 are then targeted for wall-to-wall inspections."
This is the introductory paragraph to an article from Reuters. The article is titled "Solid Recordkeeping Advice Can Keep You Off OSHA's Radar".
Accurate record keeping is fundamental. The article recommends the following for accurate OSHA 300 recordkeeping:
#1: Learn about OSHA’s injury and illness recordkeeping exemptions:
#2: Brush up on how to record OSHA recordable days
#3: Know the difference between recordable and non-recordable cases
This is the introductory paragraph to an article from Reuters. The article is titled "Solid Recordkeeping Advice Can Keep You Off OSHA's Radar".
Accurate record keeping is fundamental. The article recommends the following for accurate OSHA 300 recordkeeping:
#1: Learn about OSHA’s injury and illness recordkeeping exemptions:
#2: Brush up on how to record OSHA recordable days
#3: Know the difference between recordable and non-recordable cases
Labels: OSHA Inspections
2 Comments:
At 1:03 PM,
IamSafetyGeek said…
Hi Steve,
I just wanted to tell you that I really enjoy what your are doing with your blog. Suggestion? Perhaps where you put "#3: Know the difference between recordable and non-recordable cases" you could actually include a way to help people make the determination such as:
Is the injury or illness recordable?
Is the injury work-related?
An injury or illness is work–related if an event or exposure in the workplace (the work environment) either caused or contributed to the resulting condition, or if it significantly aggravated a preexisting injury or illness.
Record an injury or illness if it results in one or more of the following criteria:
• Death,
• Days away from work,
• Restricted work or transfer to another job,
• Medical treatment beyond first aid,
• Loss of consciousness, or
• A significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or HCP.
• Record an injury or illness if it is:
• A contaminated needlestick or sharp injury,
• Medical removal under an OSHA standard,
• Occupational hearing loss,
• Work–related tuberculosis, or
• Work–related musculoskeletal disorders.
** "Medical removal" applies when an employee is medically removed from a job based on other OSHA standards that contain medical removal requirements. Many of the OSHA standards that contain medical removal provisions are related to specific chemical substances such as lead, cadmium, methylene chloride, formaldehyde, and benzene.
An injury or illness is a new case if the employee:
• Has not previously experienced a recorded injury or illness of the same type that affects the same part of the body, or
• Previously experienced a recorded injury or illness of the same type that affected the same part of the body but had recovered completely (all signs and symptoms had disappeared) from the previous injury or illness and an event or exposure in the work environment caused the signs or symptoms to reappear.
General concepts of recordability
1. An injury or illness is considered work related if it results from an event of exposure in the work environment. The work environment is primarily composed of: (1) The employer's premises, and (2) other locations where employees are engaged in work-related activities or are present as a condition of their employment. When an employee is off the employer's premises, work relationship must be established, when on the premises, this relationship is presumed. The employer's premises encompass the total establishment. This includes not only the primary facility, but also such areas as company storage facilities, cafeterias, and rest rooms. In addition to physical locations, equipment or materials used in the course of an employee's work are also considered part of the employee's work environment.
2. All work-related fatalities are recordable.
3. All recognized or diagnosed work-related illnesses are recordable.
4. All work-related injuries requiring medical treatment or involving loss of consciousness, restriction of work or motion, or transfer to another job are recordable.
Recordable and nonrecordable injuries
Each case is distinguished by the treatment provided; i.e., if the injury was such that medical treatment was provided or should have been provided, it is recordable; if only first aid was required, it is not recordable. However, medical treatment is only one of several criteria for determining recordability.
Regardless of treatment, if the injury involved loss of consciousness, restriction of work or motion, or transfer to another job, the injury is recordable.
Medical treatment
The following procedures are generally considered medical treatment. Injuries for which this type of treatment was provided or should have been provided are almost always recordable if the injury is work related:
• Treatment of infection
• Application of antiseptics during second or subsequent visit to medical personnel
• Treatment of second or third degree burns
• Application of sutures (stitches)
• Application of butterfly adhesive dressing or steri strips in lieu of sutures
• Removal of foreign bodies embedded in eye
• Removal of foreign bodies from wound; if procedure is complicated because of depth of embedment, size, or location
• Use of prescription medications (except a single dose administered on first visit for minor injury or discomfort)
• Use of hot or cold soaking therapy during second or subsequent visit to medical personnel
• Application of hot or cold compresses during second or subsequent visit to medical personnel
• Cutting away dead skin (surgical debridement)
• Application of heat therapy during second or subsequent visit to medical personnel
• Use of whirlpool bath therapy during second or subsequent visit to medical personnel
• Positive x-ray diagnosis (fractures, broken bones, etc.)
• Admission to a hospital or medical facility for treatment
First aid treatment
Work-related injuries requiring only first aid treatment are not recordable. The following procedures are generally considered first aid treatment (e.g., one-time treatment and subsequent observation of minor injuries) and should not be recorded if the work-related injury does not involve loss of consciousness, restriction of work or motion, or transfer to another job:
• Application of antiseptics during first visit to medical personnel
• Treatment of first degree burns
• Application of bandages during a visit to medical personnel
• Use of elastic bandages during first visit to medical personnel
• Removal of foreign bodies not embedded in eye if only irrigation is required
• Removal of foreign bodies from wound; if procedure is uncomplicated, and is, for example, by tweezers or other simple technique
• Use of nonprescription medications and administration of single dose of prescription medication first visit for minor injury or discomfort
• Soaking therapy on initial visit to medical personnel or removal of bandages by soaking
• Application of hot or cold compresses during first visit to medical personnel
• Application of ointments to abrasions to prevent drying or cracking
• Application of heat therapy during first visit to medical personnel
• Use of whirlpool bath therapy during first visit to medical personnel
• Negative x-ray diagnosis
• Observation of injury during visit to medical personnel
Administration of a tetanus shot or booster by itself is not considered medical treatment.
Just a thought...
IamSafetyGeek
http://blog.iamwright.com
At 6:32 AM,
Steve Hudgik said…
Hi IamSafetyGeek,
Thank you for the additional information. A helping hand is always welcome.
I took a look at your blog (http://blog.iamwright.com). You're writing some very good posts. I'd recommend anyone interested in safety add it to their RSS reading list.
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