OSHA extends comment period on recordkeeping proposal

Washington – OSHA has extended to Oct. 28 a comment period on a proposed rule that would specify that employers have a “continuing obligation” to keep and maintain injury records.

Published July 29, the proposed rule would require employers to enter every recordable case on their injury log and update logs with cases not previously recorded. These obligations remain for the five years employers are required to keep and maintain records. The rule amends text in the current recordkeeping rule to clarify this duty without adding new obligations, OSHA states.

The agency published the proposal in response to a 2012 case in which an appellate court ruled that the agency has a six-month statute of limitations to issue citations from the date when employers fail to record an injury. The ruling went against OSHA’s long-held position that the agency has five-and-a-half years to cite employers.