How Will the New OSHA Reporting Rule Affect Your Business?

If you operate a trucking business in Massachusetts, there are certain non-negotiables if you wish to remain in business. Those include having a Massachusetts Commercial Insurance Policy that includes comprehensive commercial vehicle and workers comp coverage. Thanks to a new Occupational Safety and Health Administration reporting requirement announced in May 2016, you’ll need to revisit your reporting and recordkeeping practices — sooner rather than later.
 
OSHA Seeks Better Access to “Recordable Incidents”
 
Currently, OSHA tracks workplace injuries and illnesses in three ways: by reviewing incident reports, incident logs, and annual incident summaries (required even if no incident occurred.) OSHA’s new rule will expedite the agency’s access to this data. Effective July 2017, if your trucking business employees 250 or more people, you will be required to submit each of those three forms of information electronically each year by March 2. If you employee 20 to 249 people, you will be required to electronically submit only your annual summary. Employers of all sizes will be subject to specific OSHA requests for electronic information at any time.
 
Better Public Access
 
The commercial trucking industry is routinely viewed as a high-risk industry. One goal of OSHA’s new rule is to improve employers’ access to injury data. The information OSHA collects will be available to the public via a searchable database. As an employer, you’ll be able to view accident and injury data from other trucking companies. When you see red flags relating to procedures or equipment your company uses, you can take preventive action to safeguard your employees from the mishaps suffered by employees of other companies in your industry. While OSHA’s new rule will require additional reporting burden, the end goal is to improve workplace safety, which is something that benefits both employees and employers.
 
Anytime OSHA introduces new rules, it is wise to reevaluate your insurance coverage to make sure it is still sufficient. We are standing by to help. Contact us at Metro Boston Insurance Agency, 617.884.5480, for a free evaluation of your risk exposures and an assessment of your existing commercial insurance coverage.