Employers Must Post Accident and Illness Summary From February 1 to April 30, 2016

To protect employees from workplace health and safety hazards, California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, commonly known as Cal/OSHA, requires certain employers to maintain and post work-related injury and illness records.

Unless otherwise exempt, California companies who had at least 11 employees at any time throughout 2015 must visibly post the Cal/OSHA injury and illness summary record (Cal/OSHA Form 300A) from February 1, 2016 through April 30, 2016 so that all employees may view it.

Cal/OSHA Form 300A (Form 300A) contains a summary of significant work-related accidents and illnesses. If the company had no recordable occupational injuries or illnesses in 2015, it must insert zeros in the total lines.

In addition to completing and posting Form 300A, all eligible companies, including establishments classified in agriculture, mining, construction, manufacturing, transportation, communication, electric gas and sanitary services, wholesale trade, and those establishments in the retail, service, finance, insurance and real estate industries must also complete Cal/OSHA Form 300.

The Form 300 is used to record more detailed and private employee information about each injury and illness and thus shall not be posted.

Unless the government otherwise requests it, California establishments in low-hazard industries are exempt from these posting requirements if classified under certain Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes.

All California employers, regardless of size, including those exempt from the above recordkeeping requirements, must however immediately report to the nearest Cal/OSHA district office all serious occupational incidents that result in any fatality, hospitalization for more than 24 hours (other than for observation), or loss or serious disfigurement of any body part.

For more information on Cal/OSHA recordkeeping requirements, please visit http://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/etools/recordkeeping/index.html.

For further assistance, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.

Cindy Bamforth, March 3, 2016