Effective September 30, 2009 OSHA began a one-year national emphasis on record keeping to assess the accuracy of injury and illness data recorded by employers. Employers are required to keep accurate records on workplace injuries, illnesses, and deaths. These records are essential to identifying the root cause of workplace incidents and illnesses. In recent year there have been reports suggesting that such incidents are being under reported. In some work environments, workers are fearful of loosing their jobs or being harassed by officials for reporting inadequate safety procedures.
With this new emphasis, OSHA wants to identify under reporting of occupational injuries and illnesess and enhancing workplace safety. The program will target primarily employers with lower than average injury/illness rates in historically high rate industries.
The inspection will consist of 3 main parts
- A records review for calendar years 2007 and 2008
- Interviews of employees and management employees
- A walk around safety and health inspection of the workplace.
