To allow affected employers additional time to become familiar with a new electronic reporting system launched on Aug. 1, 2017, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has extended the date by which employers must electronically report injury and illness data through the Injury Tracking Application (ITA) to Dec. 15, 2017.

OSHA's final rule to Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses sets Dec. 15, 2017 as the date for compliance (a two-week extension from the Dec. 1, 2017, compliance date in the proposed rule). The rule requires certain employers to electronically submit injury and illness information they are already required to keep under existing OSHA regulations.

Unless an employer is under federal jurisdiction, the following OSHA-approved State Plans have not yet adopted the requirement to submit injury and illness reports electronically: California, Maryland, Minnesota, South Carolina, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Establishments in these states are not currently required to submit their summary data through the ITA. Similarly, state and local government establishments in Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, and New York are not currently required to submit their data through the ITA.

OSHA is currently reviewing the other provisions of its final rule to Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses, and intends to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking to reconsider, revise or remove portions of that rule in 2018.

For more information, visit www.osha.gov.