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WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a final rule that will require certain employers in designated high-hazard industries to electronically submit injury and illness information – that they are already required to keep – to the department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The final rule takes effect on Jan. 1, 2024, and now includes the following submission requirements:

Establishments with 100 or more employees in certain high-hazard industries must electronically submit information from their Form 300-Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, and Form 301-Injury and Illness Incident Report to OSHA once a year. These submissions are in addition to submission of Form 300A-Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses.

To improve data quality, establishments are required to include their legal company name when making electronic submissions to OSHA from their injury and illness records. [ more ]

BARTLETT, IL – For the third time in five years, federal investigators have found a nationwide provider of ready-made pasta, sauces and meals failed to follow workplace safety requirements to prevent workers from coming into contact with moving machine parts.

Inspectors with the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigating a report by Rana Meal Solutions LLC that an employee suffered a finger amputation determined the incident occurred on a hot pasta sauce line at the company's Barlett manufacturing facility. At the time, the employee was trying to find a piece of a broken ball valve lodged in the system.

"Once again, our inspectors found Rana Meal Solutions LLC ignoring federal safety requirements to make sure dangerous machines are guarded or fully de-energized before they are maintained or serviced," explained OSHA Area Director Jacob Scott in Naperville, Illinois. "In 2019 and 2020, OSHA found the company exposed employees to the risk of severe injuries and now, in 2023, their failure to follow industry and federal safety standards led one worker to suffer a painful, disfiguring injury." [ more ]

LENEXA, KAN. – SA Recycling LLC of St. Louis, Missouri, will pay $68,000 in civil penalties to resolve alleged violations of the federal Clean Water Act. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the company failed to adequately control stormwater runoff from its scrap metal recycling and processing facility. EPA says that these failures could result in illegal discharges of pollution into the Mississippi River.

"Uncontrolled runoff from industrial facilities not only harms streams and rivers, but it also limits the public's use and enjoyment of those waters," said David Cozad, director of EPA Region 7's Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division. "This settlement demonstrates EPA's commitment to protecting vital watersheds, especially in areas overburdened by pollution, and creating a level playing field with businesses who are complying with the law." [ more ]