Employers Must Post Injury/Illness Summaries

The summary must be posted from Feb. 1 to April 30.

"This is an excellent time for employers to review their 300 logs and determine where injuries and illnesses are occurring and determine a strategy to reduce and hopefully eliminate these safety and health hazards," OSHA Administrator Edwin Foulke Jr. said.

The summary must list the total number of job-related injuries and illnesses that occurred in 2006 and were logged on the OSHA 300 form. Information about the annual average number of employees and total hours worked during the calendar year also is required to assist in calculating incidence rates.

Companies with no recordable injuries or illnesses in 2006 must post the form with zeroes on the total line. All summaries must be certified by a company executive.

The form is to be displayed in a common area wherever notices to employees usually are posted. A copy of the summary must be made available to employees who move from worksite to worksite, such as construction employees and employees who do not report to any fixed establishment on a regular basis.

Certain Employers Are Exempt

Employers with 10 or fewer employees and employers in certain industry groups normally are exempt from federal OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping and posting requirements. A complete list of exempt industries in the retail, services, finance and real estate sectors is posted on the OSHA Web site.

Exempted employers still may be selected by the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics to participate in an annual statistical survey.

All employers covered by OSHA need to comply with safety and health standards and must verbally report, within 8 hours, to the nearest OSHA office all accidents that result in one or more fatalities or in the hospitalization of three or more employees.

Copies of the OSHA Forms 300 and 300A are available on the OSHA Recordkeeping Web page in either Adobe PDF or Microsoft Excel spreadsheet format.