OSHA released its promised Directive on its new Injury and Illness Recordkeeping National Emphasis Program (NEP) on September 30, 2009. This is one of OSHA's efforts to address the issue of under-recorded injuries and illnesses.

According to OSHA, the most likely places where under-recorded injuries and illnesses may exist would be low rate establishments operating in historically high rate industries. This NEP will pilot test OSHA's ability to effectively target establishments to identify under-recording.

Is Your Establishment Included?

Selection for an OSHA inspection will be limited to establishments with 40 or more employees in the following industries that have reported a Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred (DART) rate from 0.0 to 4.2 in 2007:

• Animal (except poultry) slaughtering
• Scheduled passenger air transportation
• Steel foundries (except investment)
• Other nonferrous foundries (except die-casting)
• Concrete pipe manufacturing
• Soft drink manufacturing
• Couriers
• Manufactured home (mobile home) manufacturing
• Rolling mill machinery and equipment manufacturing
• Iron foundries
• Nursing care facilities
• Fluid milk manufacturing
• Seafood canning
• Marine cargo handling
• Copper foundries (except die-casting)
• Bottled water manufacturing
• Refrigerated warehousing and storage
• Motor vehicle seating and interior trim manufacturing
• Pet and pet supplies stores
• Poultry Processing
• Support Activities for Animal Production

OSHA will also pilot test the inspection procedures in no more than five establishments in the construction industry which will be randomly selected.

Public sector employers, approved participants in OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Programs,  and Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Programs will be deleted from the inspection list.  Participants in an OSHA Strategic Partnerships may also be deleted from the list.

Records Review
The compliance safety and health officer (CSHO) will review the following records from 2007 and 2008:

• Medical records,
• Workers' compensation records,
• Insurance records,
• Payroll absentee records,
• Company safety incident reports,
• Company first-aid logs,
• Alternate duty rosters, and
• Disciplinary records pertaining to injuries and illnesses

The CSHO will verify that each identified recordable injury or illness is properly entered on the employer’s OSHA Form 300 and OSHA Form 301.

The CSHO will also request a copy of a complete roster of all employees who worked at the establishment during 2007 and use that roster to select employees whose records will be reviewed.  The CSHO will interview employees, focusing on those most likely to be injured or become ill.

The CSHO will interview the recordkeeper to assess the recordkeeper’s knowledge of OSHA recordkeeping requirements and to determine whether recordkeeping problems exist. Management representatives will also be interviewed regarding the manner in which injuries and illnesses are recorded and to determine the existence of incentive or disciplinary programs that may influence recordkeeping.  This interview will try to determine whether management may influence medical treatment.  The CSHO will also interview staff who participated in first-aid or medical treatment.

The CSHO will include a limited walkaround inspection of the main plant operations areas and will generally be looking for consistency with the recorded injuries and illnesses, but will address any violations observed in plain view.

If your industry is on the list, be sure you are prepared when OSHA comes knocking at your door. If you're not on the list, consider yourself lucky, but take this opportunity to get your recordkeeping procedures and OSHA 300 logs in order. 

Additional Resources

OSHA Inspections—What You Can Expect

Checklist for Handling Agency Inspections

Be Prepared for OSHA Inspections

What Happens Next When OSHA Issues a Citation?

Illness and Injuries Regulatory Analysis

Incident Management Tool