The issue
Should the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rescind its revised
record-keeping rule (the Recording and Reporting of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses)
scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1, 2002.
Why it's important
OSHA's current record-keeping rule is paperwork-intensive and requires employers
to maintain a log (the OSHA 200 form) of employees' injuries and illnesses. The
rule is a source of a disproportionate number of citations. The revised rule will
replace OSHA's 200 form with reconfigured forms (300, 300A, 301) that OSHA claims
would be simpler and more efficient. But the proposed rule contains ambiguous language
and would impose even more cumbersome paperwork on employers.
Specific new changes (burdens) for roofing contractors would include:
- Definitions of injuries and illnesses, such as musculoskeletal disorders (aches
and pains) that are so broad virtually everything must be recorded.
- Requiring employers to record injuries that originally occurred outside the workplace.
- Requiring subcontractors to provide injury and illness records to general contractors.
- Requiring employers to make all OSHA Injury and Illness Incident Records (proposed
form 301) available to employees, former employees and employee representatives.
In March, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) revoked the record-keeping rule
because comments concerning paperwork requirements filed by various business groups
raised questions OSHA could not answer. In addition, the comments stated that OSHA
has not satisfied the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act with respect to
the collection of information. A complaint also has been filed in the U.S. District
Court for Washington, D.C., challenging the rule. Currently, the rule is under review
by OSHA and OMB, and it is likely the January 2002 implementation date will be delayed.
NRCA's position
NRCA is opposed to OSHA's record-keeping rule because it would create more subjectively
enforced compliance requirements with excessive paperwork and would not establish
a proportional increase in employee safety. If enacted, the rule will dilute the
definition of what must be reported and would expose NRCA members to more citations.
NRCA has testified twice at congressional hearings against the revised rule. The
U.S. Small Business Administration's chief council for advocacy has reservations,
as well.
The Other Side
Organized labor and OSHA believe employers habitually underrecord and underreport
employee injuries and illnesses, making OSHA's revised record-keeping rule necessary.
(May 2001)