American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) President Kathy Seabrook responds to OHSA’s electronic reporting proposed rule:
“In our comments submitted for the record, ASSE urged OSHA to withdraw its proposed rule, Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses, until the agency develops clearer objectives and a stronger rationale for requiring establishments with 250 or more employees to electronically submit each quarter injury and illness records and each year summary data. Establishments with 20 or more employees would submit electronically the annual summary form and certain employers would submit electronically other information on notification from OSHA.
“ASSE does not believe OSHA has explained adequately how collecting the information will actually improve workplace safety, or how OSHA will manage the information once it is collected. ASSE believes publishing the information collected will make more difficult the efforts of safety professionals to focus companies on preventing hazards instead of reporting injuries. .”
For more information about the ASSE, visit www.asse.org.
