The U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has made public its 2022 injury and illness data collected from more than 300,000 establishments nationwide.
The Injury Tracking Application data, derived from OSHA’s electronic record-keeping protocol, is intended to help identify hazardous conditions in the workplace that can cause injuries and illnesses. The data is gathered from certain employers required to submit OSHA Form 300A information from Jan. 2 to March 2, according to OSHA's website.
The information, released on March 31, is intended to enhance research on the existence, avoidance and control of hazards, injuries and illnesses that happen on the job.
“Recordkeeping is a valuable tool that provides a road map to where and why injuries and illnesses occur and where improvements are needed,” Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker said in the release.
Parker noted that a deeper knowledge of injuries and how they happen on the job can be a good measure of whether existing safety problems are meeting their mark.
“By increasing access to this data, we are providing information that can help people better understand the overall effectiveness of safety and health systems in the workplace,” Parker said in the press release.
Before recently publishing the data, OSHA worked hard to make sure that employers knew the mandates for submitting data. OSHA's outreach program included a federal website, social media and emails to alert companies to their responsibility, the press release said.
OSHA's work isn't over as it now endeavors to identify establishments that failed to submit their 2022 Form 300A data so that no gap exists in the available knowledge on injuries and illnesses.
While not all establishments must file this data, the requirement does apply to those with at least 250 employees as well as those in industries associated with historically high injury rates even if the employees are only in the 20 to 249 range, according to the release.
Companies that did not provide their Form 300A data still must see to it that they meet the requirement, according to OSHA.
