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Federal Requirements for Illness & Injury Reporting Not Applicable in CA

Bryan Little, Farm Employers Labor Service

December 1, 2017

FELS' Sacramento office has received inquiries concerning federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)  regulations that became effective Jan. 1, 2017.  These regulations require employers in federal OSHA jurisdiction states to electronically submit Log 300 records of injuries and illnesses, with the intent of publishing these reports on OSHA's Internet page.  The new federal regulation also imposes new anti-discrimination requirements intended to prevent employers' adoption of safety policies that could be construed to discourage reporting of workplace injuries and illness.

California is one of 26 U.S. states to exercise the option provided in the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 allowing states to establish their own regulatory plans for occupational safety and health.  These plans generally call for state-plan states to establish their own regulatory agency (Cal/OSHA, in California's case), to promulgate regulations that protect employees as effectively as federal regulations and to operate enforcement programs that are as effective as federal enforcement.  States that have not done so are under the jurisdiction of federal OSHA.

Employers in state-plan states are not obliged to comply with new federal occupational safety and health rules until their state's regulatory process establishes regulations that are comparable to federal regulations.

Since Cal/OSHA has not yet adopted a regulation to implement the federal Log 300 reporting and anti-discrimination regulation, California employers do not need to comply with the federal regulation

This regulation is the subject of ongoing litigation and federal OSHA has indicated it is reconsidering certain aspects of the rule.  FELS will inform you of future developments.