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OSHA 300 Posting Requirements for 2008

January 2nd, 2008 Posted by Amelia

With New Year’s just past, employers need to start working on their OSHA 300 forms. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires all businesses to display the 300 form from February 1, 2008 to April 30, 2008.

According to OSHA sources, “Employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace for their employees. OSHA’s role is to assure the safety and health of America’s workers by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach, and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual improvement in workplace safety and health.” Part of an employer’s responsibility is to display the OSHA 300 log as well as the OSHA-It’s the Law Poster.

The OSHA 300 form shows the accidents of the previous year at the business. The point is to prevent future problems. If the company keeps track of the types of accidents that take place most frequently, they can better focus efforts on preventing the same things for the next year. Job-related illness, injury, and fatality are nothing to ignore. Hopefully, you have attended meetings with your employer about keeping your place of work a healthy and safe one.

Since the prominent posting of the OSHA 300 form is required by the law, OSHA is intolerant of noncompliance. A business caught not properly displaying the required poster for the full appointed time will be subject to fines. Employee’s health and safety is important to the OSHA, and they are making continued efforts to inspire that kind of drive for protection in the employer.

Reducing and preventing workplace accidents is one of the major goals of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Employers can do their part by making sure that workers follow safety precautions. Remind coworkers of the importance of safety and health.

Most states with state worker safety agencies, rather than OSHA, still require a version the OSHA 300 form. For example, in Washington, the state government requires every employer to post a Washington OSHA form to keep track of work-related illnesses and injuries. This form must be posted from February 1 to April 30 of every year. The form recaps work-related injuries and illnesses so that workers can gauge the safety of their company for a particular calendar year.

The federal government has a set of regulations regarding health standards and job safety that more than half of the states follow. Twenty-two states have chosen to opt out of the federal OSHA program, and Washington is one of them.

Federal regulations say that each state’s OSHA plan needs to be at least as effective as the federal OSHA. Most states follow federal OSHA standards, so the majority of state OSHA programs are almost identical to the federal program.

Since Washington has its own OSHA program, the Washington Occupational Safety and Health Administration conducts its own safety inspections instead of the federal government. It also offers occupational safety and health training programs. Just like the federal OSHA, the Washington OSHA also provides on-site consultation to help employers learn to see and fix any workplace hazards.

This is a free service.

Other state worker safety organizations have similar regulations.

Every state does this, but California takes this process one step further. While the majority of states only make public workplace hazards stated in federal standards, California chooses to make public workplace hazards that the federal OSHA standards don’t cover.

Although a state has the option to have its own OSHA policy, the state policy needs to be approved by the federal government before a state can begin using it. The process for getting a state OSHA plan approved by the federal government begins with a developmental plan to make sure the state has the means to run its own OSHA, and ends in certification.

To get certification a state must assure the federal OSHA that it will be able to run its own effective OSHA within 3 years.