It’s OSHA 300 Time Again

Well, it’s that time again. Nope…I’m not talking about Tax Season, although that is going to be here soon enough. I’m talking about it’s time to make sure your OSHA 300 form is filled out and posted.

The OSHA 300 form is one form that nearly all employers have to fill out and keep around for five years. The only employers that wouldn’t fill one out are those that never have 10 or more employees throughout the year. Nearly all gins have more than 10 employees. The 300 form can be downloaded from this page and should be finalized for the previous calendar year. Ideally, you should be filling out the form 300 as the year progresses and adding injuries and illnesses as they occur (if you have any, that is.). The form would be totaled out and the information transferred to the OSHA 300A Summary form for Posting.

The OSHA 300A form is a summary of the information on the 300 form that doesn’t contain any specific injury information, just data. That 300A form will needs to be posted in a prominent location (typically where your other posters are) by February 1 of the following calendar year and kept in place until the END of April. There is a second page to the 300A that is a worksheet and doesn’t need to be posted but is there to help you with the math that is needed for the 300A data.

The 300A data is what is reported to OSHA electronically for employers with 20 or more employees (at any point during the calendar year) in certain industries. Yes, Agriculture is on the list. The 300A form information will need to be reported to OSHA by March 2 of 2019 and we will send out another reminder before that date.

The OSHA 300 and 300A can be a bit tricky to fill out. Definitions can get a bit tricky. So tricky in fact that there are attorneys that specialize in these forms. Association Safety Specialist Andy Knowlton spent a good bit of time on the subject at the Southern Southeastern Annual Meeting last week.

Please take some time this week to update and fill out your OSHA 300 form for calendar year 2018 and post your 300A. There are a couple of long videos that will answer just about any question you have below. Please watch these as you get time.

The OSHA 300 forms are one of the things that are asked for in EVERY OSHA investigation Andy or I have ever been on. Typically they ask for three years but you are supposed to have five years in your file. If you have any questions after watching one or both of these videos, give Andy a call or email.

DSF