Even if you don’t think of healthcare as a high-hazard industry, the reality is that the government does — and that means you must be ready to comply with a new OSHA rule effective in 2024. If you want to avoid fines, audits and investigations, you’ll need to electronically submit injury and illness information to OSHA.
Of course, complying with the 2024 OSHA rule may be easier said than done. Check out three ways you can stay on the right side of the new law.
1. New OSHA Rule Affects Multiple Healthcare Business Types
The updated OSHA rule applies to a wide variety of businesses, which OSHA lists in the Appendices of its latest rulemaking. Appendix A notes that the rule applies to businesses with 20 to 249 employees in such industries as grocery stores, manufacturing, construction, wholesale trade and more.
Appendix B, on the other hand, includes a variety of healthcare businesses, as long as they have 100 or more employees. Affected businesses include:
- General medical and surgical hospitals
- Psychiatric and substance abuse hospitals
- Specialty hospitals
- Nursing care facilities
- Residential intellectual and developmental disability, mental health and substance abuse facilities
- Assisted living facilities for the elderly
- Other residential care facilities
If you’re unsure whether your business qualifies under these regulations, dig deeper or consult a healthcare attorney or your insurance provider to find out.
2.You Have Three Submission Options
If you’re required to submit injury and illness data electronically based on the new rule, you’ll do so through OSHA’s Injury Tracking Application (ITA). You’ll have three options for data submission:
- First, users are able to manually enter data into a webform.
- Second, you can upload a CSV file to process single or multiple establishments at the same time.
- Last, users of automated recordkeeping systems will have the ability to transmit data electronically via an API (application programming interface).
You’ve likely been tracking your employee illnesses and injuries in a log of some type at your office, and that requirement remains the same. What’s changing is that you must electronically submit those logs with the prior year’s information to OSHA by March of the next year.
3. Data Is Due March 2, 2024
Although the new OSHA rule goes into effect on January 1, 2024, the 2023 reporting isn’t due until
March 2, 2024. This gives you time to familiarize yourself with the reporting process and the website so you won’t miss the deadline when it arrives.
Going into 2024 without detailed knowledge of the new OSHA rule could land your practice in serious hot water. Healthcare attorney and OSHA expert Travis Vance, JD, can share the details you need to stay on the right side of the law during his online training, OSHA Rules: Comply with Huge 2024 Update, Deadline Jan. 1st. Register today!
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