OSHA 200
Issues which should be addressed in this
area include:
The OSH Act of 1970 requires
employers with 11 or more employees to collect and maintain injury and illness records for
their own employees at each of their establishments.
- The U.S. Department of Labor's publication, Recordkeeping Guidelines
for Occupational Injuries and Illness, is the OSHA document that explains how
cases are to recorded on the OSHA 200 log.
- To correctly complete the OSHA 200 log, employers
must follow the guidelines carefully.
- Every OSHA recordable injury and illness must be
recorded on an OSHA log 200 (or equivalent) within six working days from the time the
employer learns of the injury or illness.
- This log is maintained on a calendar year basis and
must be retained for five years at the establishment.
- Each year the employer must post the annual summary
of the previous calendar year's occupational injuries and illnesses for the nursing home.
Although the summary is defined as a copy of the year's totals from the OSHA 200,
it is, for the most part, the right-hand side of the OSHA 200 (a dotted line divides the
OSHA 200).
- The employer must post the OSHA 200 Summary in a
conspicuous place or places where notices to employees are customarily placed. The
employer must post this by February 1 and it must must remain posted until at least
March 1.
Recordable
Injuries and Illnesses
- When determining whether to record a case on the
OSHA 200 log, noting that the recordkeeping guidelines classify injuries and illnesses
differently is important.
- An occupational injury is an injury such as a cut,
puncture wound, fracture, sprain or strain, which results from a work accident or from an
exposure involving a single incident in the work environment. Injuries are always the
result of instantaneous events.
- An occupational illness is any abnormal condition
or disorder, other than one resulting from an occupational injury, caused by exposure to
environmental factors associated with employment . An example is tuberculosis. Illnesses
are always the result of exposures over time.
- All occupational deaths and nonfatal illnesses are
recordable.
- Nonfatal occupational injuries are recordable only
if they involve one or more of the following:
- loss of consciousness
- restriction of work or motion
- transfer to another job
- medical treatment, beyond first aid.
|