New OSHA Training Rule Can Be Avoided If You Do This One Thing

By, Robert Box – Corridor News Contributor

It’s free, it takes two minutes, and you can implement it today.

OSHA’s new injury and illness tracking rule originally set to begin August 10, 2016, contained a requirement for employers to train or inform workers of the right to report work-related injuries and illnesses without fear of retaliation and to document the training to demonstrate OSHA’s obligation was met. However, employers can do one simple thing at no charge to accommodate OSHA’s new rule.

In May of 2015, OSHA unveiled a new “Job Safety & Health – It’s the Law!” poster –the first update of the poster since 2007. Besides the design, the verbiage of the new poster is essentially the same as the old poster, except for 4 new words:  “…Without being retaliated against.”

The new poster says, “All workers have the right to raise a safety or health concern with your employer or OSHA, or report a work-related injury or illness without being retaliated against.” The new OSHA “Job Safety & Health – It’s the Law!” poster is free, and if posted appropriately in the workplace, the additional four words on the new poster satisfies the employer’s obligation of training or informing workers of the new rule. If you have the old posters posted, take them down and post the new posters.

It’s still recommended that employers update new hire training to include informing workers their right of reporting work-related injuries and illnesses without fear of retaliation, but the new OSHA poster will suffice for notifying workers by the deadline, which was moved from August 10 to November 1 of this year.

Also recommended is for employers to implement reasonable procedures for workers to report injuries and illnesses that do not deter workers from doing so. 

Safety First Consulting helps businesses identify OSHA compliance issues in their workplaces, manage their safety programs, and we become accountable for the results. In addition to offering custom written safety programs for companies, Safety First Consulting provides required safety training, industrial hygiene sampling, noise sampling, and workplace inspections.