Source: https://www.osha.gov/Reduction_Act/SS1761999.html
Timestamp: 2015-05-23 06:01:09
Document Index: 130403896

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 1904', 'art 1904', 'art 1904', 'art 1904', 'art 1904', 'art 1904', 'art 1904', 'art 1904', 'art1904', 'art 1904', 'art 1904']

Federal Register [07/08/1999] #64:36926-36927
Public Law 91-596, the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, section 24(a) states that:
The Secretary. . .shall develop and maintain an effective program of collection, compilation, and analysis of occupational safety and health statistics.
. . .the Secretary may promote, encourage, or directly engage in programs of studies, information and communication concerning occupational safety and health statistics.
Section 8(c)(2) of the OSH Act also prescribes that:
The Secretary shall prescribe regulations requiring employers to maintain accurate records of and to make periodic reports on, work-related deaths, injuries and illnesses. . .
Recordkeeping regulations are contained in Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 1904. Copies of the appropriate sections of the OSH Act and 29 CFR Part 1904 are included in Attachments 1 and 2.
Recordkeeping forms were promulgated under 29 CFR Part 1904, were simplified in 1978, and now consist of the OSHA No. 200, the Log and Summary of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (Attachment 3) and the OSHA No. 101, the Supplementary Record of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (Attachment 4). The Recordkeeping Guidelines for Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (Attachment 5), were published in 1986 to assist employers in fulfilling their duties to maintain these forms by providing supplemental instructions for completing the recordkeeping forms. These guidelines represent the Department of Labor's official interpretations of employer recordkeeping requirements under the OSH Act. The use of the recordkeeping forms and recordkeeping guidelines by employers helps to ensure the uniformity of the safety and health data utilized by BLS and OSHA.
The OSHA No. 200, Log and Summary; the OSHA No. 101, Supplementary Record; and the recordkeeping guidelines provide employers with the means and specific instructions needed to maintain records of work-related injuries and illnesses. Response to this collection of information is mandatory for employers covered by the regulations, as specified in 29 CFR Part 1904. Approximately 635,239 employers with 1,086,264 establishments are regularly required to maintain the forms, although roughly 35 percent of these establishments will not have a recordable case in any given year and will only have to post the summary part of the OSHA No. 200.
Employers required to keep the occupational injury and illness records pursuant to 29 CFR Part 1904 must maintain the required records at each establishment, and comply with the annual posting requirements of 29 CFR 1904.5 These employers are also required to comply with the access requirements of 29 CFR 1904.7, which provide access to records kept pursuant to 29 CFR 1904.2, 1904 .4 and 1904.5, to representatives of the Secretaries of Labor, and Health and Human Services, and to representatives of a State, under certain circumstances. The access provisions also require that employers provide access to the log and summary for employees, former employees and their representatives.
The records kept pursuant to Part 1904 are used for many purposes. Generally, hard data are necessary to define the nature and extent of existing occupational health and safety problems, or lack thereof. Hard data on occupational injuries and illnesses provide a baseline for use in evaluating efforts to solve existing health and safety problems. Accurate worksite data are indispensable for use in outcome-oriented efforts to improve the safety and health of America's workers.
Specifically, the records kept pursuant to Part 1904 are used by government, employers and employees, academia, corporations, trade associations, labor organizations, and the general public. The records required under this information collection request (OSHA No. 200 and OSHA No. 101) provide the baseline data for employer response to the OSHA Data Initiative which is covered under OMB control number 1218-0209. OSHA uses the information gathered from Part 1904 records during its annual data collection initiative to target its programed inspections and comply with the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). OSHA also uses information provided in individual employer's Part1904 records when its compliance officers review them as a part of an on-site OSHA inspection. The information in the records can provide a roadmap for the compliance officer to focus the inspection on the most hazardous aspects of the operation. In short, accurate records are necessary for the optimal prioritization of the use of OSHA's scarce resources.
In addition to OSHA, others use information generated by the Part 1904 records. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) uses the information collected from the Part 1904 records of participants in its annual statistical survey (which is covered under a separate PRA approval) to produce national statistics on occupational injuries and illnesses. Employers and employees use the records to see -- in a snapshot -- the health and safety record for the establishment. The records provide accurate injury and illness information for each worksite, information which is indispensable for use by the employer as well as employees in accomplishing data-based problem solving and hazard identification to improve the health and safety of the worksite.
3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting elect