Congress just made it easier for employers to hide serious workplace injuries from OSHA
On March 21, the Senate voted to overturn OSHA’s Volks Rule. The Volks rule restored OSHA’s traditional ability to require employers to maintain accurate records for five years and to be able to use that data to figure out where recurring problems occur and better enforce the law.
According to Confined Space, “In short, for 40 years, OSHA was able to cite employers who did not keep complete or accurate injury or illness records over the previous five years. This enabled OSHA to identify deliberate patterns of under reporting and to force changes, not just on those employers’ recordkeeping practices, but on their unsafe work practices. Accurate records are the main way workers and employers can identify health and safety problems in the workplace and correct them.”
Employers still have to keep logs, but now they can’t be cited for improper record keeping except within a shorter time frame. Unions and workers have the right to see and should track employers’ OSHA Logs; if the logs are incomplete or have inaccuracies they should contact OSHA immediately so that the citations and/or fines stay within the six-month timeframe. For more information about OSHA inspections, please click here.
WEC encourages workers and their unions to also keep their own records of hazards, exposures, and injuries that they incur or witness in their workplaces.
