(March 30, 2011) The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is seeking input from the business community on its proposal to add a column for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) on employer injury and illness logs, known as the form 300 log.
OSHA is holding three teleconferences in partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy to gather small business input on the proposal.
The proposal would require employers already mandated to keep injury and illness records to add the step of checking a column when recording work-related musculoskeletal disorders, also commonly known as ergonomic injuries.
Interested businesses that wish to participate in one of the teleconferences should contact Regina Powers at powers.regina@dol.gov by April 4 and indicate the teleconference in which they wish to participate.
CalChamber Resource
CalChamber would very much like to have its members participate in this process. Anyone wishing to participate should also contact Marti Fisher at the CalChamber for more information.
Conference Call Details
Small businesses from around the country are encouraged to participate in the teleconferences, scheduled for:
- Monday, April 11 at 1:30 p.m. EDT;
- Tuesday, April 12 at 9 a.m. EDT; and
- Tuesday, April 12 at 1:30 p.m. EDT.
Participants may provide input about their experience in recording work-related MSDs and the impact of the proposed rule.
Proposed Rule
The proposed rule covers only MSDs that employers already are required to record under the longstanding OSHA rule on recordkeeping.
Before 2001, OSHA's injury and illness logs contained a column for repetitive trauma disorders that included hearing loss and many kinds of MSDs. In 2001, OSHA proposed separating hearing loss and MSDs into two columns, but the MSD column was deleted in 2003 before the provision went into effect. OSHA's proposal would restore the MSD column to the Form 300.
Business Groups Raise Concerns
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups recently submitted extensive comments to OSHA raising a wide array of concerns with the proposed regulation.
Chief among these concerns is that there is no workable definition for MSDs that will allow an employer to identify and record them, as the employer would with other injuries.
The groups also believe that OSHA’s proposal is problematic because it would remove a current exemption that allows employers to not record “minor musculoskeletal discomforts” even if the employee is placed on some form of restricted duty to keep the condition from worsening, or for the employee’s comfort (such moves ordinarily would trigger a recording requirement).
Finally, the groups are voiced concern that OSHA has grossly underestimated the costs of this proposal, particularly for small businesses, and accordingly should have conducted a small business review panel to learn more about how small businesses would deal with the regulation.
OSHA Resource
For more information from OSHA, contact Robert Burt, director of OSHA's Office of Regulatory Analysis, at (202) 693-1952, or Bruce Lundegren, assistant chief counsel for SBA Advocacy, at (202) 205-6144.
Staff Contact: Marti Fisher