Employers may be accustomed to seeing their Form 300A, Annual Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, which has been displayed at their place of business since February 1 — but after April 30, that form can come down.
Don’t throw them away, though! Employers must retain their Form 300A summaries, as well as their Form 300, Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses and Form 301, Injury and Illness Incident Report, for five years following the end of the calendar year that these records cover. Employers can take this opportunity to toss any pre-2016 records.
Even if an employer had to electronically submit their 2021 Form 300A injury and illness data to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) by March 2, 2022, they still must keep and maintain their Form 300, Form 300A and Form 301.
Remember, Form 300A is a required workplace posting that gives employees the opportunity to review any injuries or illnesses that occurred at their worksite in the prior year. It must be displayed in a common location where notices to employees are usually posted, and employees, former employees and their representatives have the right to review the form in its entirety.
As for COVID-19 occurrences in the workplace, if the incident results in the same conditions as any other occupational illness, it also must be recorded on Forms 300, 300a and 301; the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) has provided guidelines specifically for reporting COVID-19 workplace occurrences.
While employers must keep Form 300 for their records, they don’t have to publicly post it.
Katie Culliton, Editor, CalChamber
CalChamber members can use the Log 300 wizard on HRCalifornia to determine whether a business is subject to Cal/OSHA’s Log 300 recording, reporting and posting requirements, and can read more about Recording Work-Related Injury and Illness in the HR Library. Not a member? See how CalChamber can help you.
