News and Updates

Compliance With OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard Just Got Easier




Over the past decade, OSHA has reported a steady decline of work-related injuries and illnesses throughout American workplaces. Initially, this trend was viewed as a step in the right direction toward protecting workers...

Unfortunately, OSHA is now beginning to question these statistics and believes that the number and extent of work-related injuries and illnesses may have been underreported (Business Week, March 11, 2010). Underreporting may come about because some employers want to keep insurance premiums as low as possible and employees fail to report injuries for fear of being fired.

While either or both of these may be the case, one of the greatest challenges associated with worksite safety is accurately capturing and recording data of work-related injuries and illnesses. The problem is so significant that a separate division of OSHA regulations (29 CFR, 1904) provides specific details and instructions for reporting.

Recognizing this difficulty, a new module for recording work-related injury and illness information has been added to the Virtual Safety Manager. This new module is in addition to the existing recordkeeping module.





To properly record work-related injuries and illnesses, some simple data entry is required. From the Tools menu, scroll down to the Recordkeeping section.




Click on Add or Update Injury and Illness Records to open the following window.

Complete each field to enter information about the incident being recorded. When finished, click on Save Record and the record will be saved.

From the Reporting menu, a list of all injuries and illnesses can be reviewed and printed. At the end of 2010, you will be able to print the OSHA 300A (which must be posted from February 1 to April 30, 2011).

See other Virtual Safety Manager News & Updates.