Impact of Record Keeper Training on Occupational Injury and Illness Reporting in Washington State

Brief Summary
Background The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) administers the annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) to collect data on non-fatal workplace injuries and illnesses. Employers are required to provide such information based on their OSHA injury and illness records. Increasingly, evidence suggests that employers underreport cases of non-fatal workplace injuries and illnesses. The aim of this study is to explore whether OSHA recordkeeping training impacts recordkeeping knowledge and practices among SOII respondents. Method We conducted a telephone survey among a sample of 2011 SOII respondents from Washington State establishments.  Participants were selected based on establishment size, industry, and ownership (private or government) to be representative of the Washington establishments that participated in the 2011 SOII.  Survey participants were asked about employees’ injury reporting responsibility, injury reporting structure at the workplace, OSHA and SOII recordkeeping practices, and a set of hypothetical recordkeeping scenarios to test the respondent’s OSHA recordkeeping knowledge. The surveys were conducted between June 2013 and January 2014. Prevalence rates and odds ratios (ORs) were computed to evaluate the association between formal OSHA recordkeeping training status, OSHA recordkeeping practices, and OSHA recordkeeping knowledge, adjusting for company size and industry.  Results Over 400 survey participants were responsible for maintaining their establishment’s OSHA injury and illness records.  Of these respondents, about half had received formal recordkeeping training.  Respondents from larger establishments (50 or more employees), and those in construction, manufacturing, and transportation and warehousing, and wholesale trade were more likely to have received formal recordkeeping training.  On average, respondents who had received recordkeeping training scored higher on the recordkeeping knowledge test compared with respondents with no training (p<.0001). Training was also associated with better compliance with the OSHA recordkeeping regulations including determining case eligibility, recording cases within the required timeframe, and calculating disability duration.  Respondents with training were more than five times more likely to comply with the OSHA recordkeeping regulations compared with those with no training, after adjusting for establishment size and industry. Conclusions Providing formal OSHA recordkeeping training may help employers improve OSHA recordkeeping practices, and can be considered as a strategy to help address concerns about inaccuracies in the SOII data.