(b) Implementation.
1. What must I do to make sure that employees
report work-related injuries and illnesses to me?
(i) You must establish a reasonable procedure
for employees to report work-related injuries and illnesses promptly and
accurately. A procedure is not reasonable if it would deter or discourage a
reasonable employee from accurately reporting a workplace injury or
illness;
(ii) You must inform each
employee of your procedure for reporting work-related injuries and
illnesses;
(iii) You must inform
each employee that:
(I) Employees have the
right to report work-related injuries and illnesses; and
(II) Employers are prohibited from
discharging or in any manner discriminating against employees for reporting
work-related injuries or illnesses; and
(iv) You must not discharge or in any manner
discriminate against any employee for reporting a work-related injury or
illness.
2. Do I have to
give my employees and their representatives access to the TOSHA injury and
illness records? Yes, your employees, former employees, their personal
representatives, and their authorized employee representatives have the right
to access the TOSHA injury and illness records, with some limitations, as
discussed below.
(i) Who is an authorized
employee representative? An authorized employee representative is an authorized
collective bargaining agent of employees.
(ii) Who is a "personal representative" of an
employee or former employee? A personal representative is:
(I) Any person that the employee or former
employee designates as such, in writing; or
(II) The legal representative of a deceased
or legally incapacitated employee or former employee.
(iii) If an employee or representative asks
for access to the OSHA 300 Log, when do I have to provide it? When an employee,
former employee, personal representative, or authorized employee representative
asks for copies of your current or stored OSHA 300 Log(s) for an establishment
the employee or former employee has worked in, you must give the requester a
copy of the relevant OSHA 300 Log(s) by the end of the next business
day.
(iv) May I remove the names of
the employees or any other information from the OSHA 300 Log before I give
copies to an employee, former employee, or employee representative? No, you
must leave the names on the 300 Log. However, to protect the privacy of injured
and ill employees, you may not record the employee's name on the OSHA 300 Log
for certain "privacy concern cases," as specified in Rules
0800-01-03-.03(27)(b)
6 through Rule 0800-01-03-.03(27)(b)
9.
(v) If an employee or
representative asks for access to the OSHA 301 Incident Report, when do I have
to provide it?
(I) When an employee, former
employee, or personal representative asks for a copy of the OSHA 301 Incident
Report describing an injury or illness to that employee or former employee, you
must give the requester a copy of the OSHA 301 Incident Report containing that
information by the end of the next business day.
(II) When an authorized employee
representative asks for copies of the OSHA 301 Incident Reports for an
establishment where the agent represents employees under a collective
bargaining agreement, you must give copies of those forms to the authorized
employee representative within 7 calendar days. You are only required to give
the authorized employee representative information from the OSHA 301 Incident
Report section titled "Tell us about the case." You must remove all other
information from the copy of the OSHA 301 Incident Report or the equivalent
substitute form that you give to the authorized employee
representative.
(vi) May
I charge for the copies? No, you may not charge for these copies the first time
they are provided. However, if one of the designated persons asks for
additional copies, you may assess a reasonable charge for retrieving and
copying the records.