Iowa Employer Law Blog: Insights on Recent Developments in Employment & Labor Law

- Posted by Joan M. Fletcher

The February 1 Iowa OSHA Form 300A posting date is almost here.   If you have not done so already, it’s time to create an annual summary of injuries and illnesses recorded on your Iowa OSHA 300 Log.  Be sure to review your Iowa OSHA 300 Log entries as extensively as necessary to make sure they are complete and accurate, and correct any deficiencies.

Completing the Form 300A

To complete the Form 300A Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, total the columns on the OSHA 300 Log, enter the establishment’s name and address, annual average number of employees covered by the OSHA 300 Log, and the total hours worked by all employees covered by the OSHA 300 Log. 

Certification of the Form 300A

The Form 300A must be certified by a “company executive,” which means:

• an owner of the company (only if the company is a sole proprietorship or partnership);
• an officer of the corporation;
• the highest ranking company official working at the establishment; or
• the immediate supervisor of the highest ranking company official working at the establishment.

By certifying the Form 300A, the company executive represents that he or she has examined the OSHA 300 Log and reasonably believes, based on the executive’s knowledge of the process by which the information was recorded, that the annual summary is correct and complete. 

Posting and Maintenance Requirements

The Form 300A must be posted in each establishment, in one or more conspicuous places where notices to employees are customarily posted, no later than February 1, 2012 and kept in place until April 30, 2012.  You must also ensure that the posted annual summary is not altered, defaced or covered by other material.   

Employers must maintain the OSHA 300 Log, the privacy case list (if one exists), the 300A Summary, and the OSHA 301 Incident Report forms for five years following the end of the calendar year that the records cover.  The employer need not send any recordkeeping forms to IOSHA or any other agency unless requested.

Exempt Employers

An employer with ten or fewer employees is exempt from maintaining the OSHA log of injuries and illnesses, unless the Bureau of Labor Statistics or IOSHA notifies them that they have been selected to participate in mandatory data collection.

Iowa OSHA also exempts employers in certain low hazard industries, as defined in the recordkeeping standard. Note that exempt employers must still comply with requirements to display an Iowa OSHA Safety and Health poster and report to IOSHA within eight hours any accident that results in one or more fatalities or the hospitalization of three or more employees.

For more information, please contact attorney Joan Fletcher at 515-246-4525 / jfletcher@dickinsonlaw.com or another member of the firm’s Iowa Employment Law and Labor Law Group at employmentlaw@dickinsonlaw.com.