On March 10, 2014, WLF filed formal comments with the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), urging the agency to withdraw its proposed rule to “Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses.” WLF criticized the proposal for imposing burdensome new workplace reporting requirements without any empirical support that imposing such additional burdens will advance workplace safety and health. WLF expressed concern that the proposed rule, by authorizing OSHA to publicize all workplace injury and illness data, implicitly places the fault for all workplace injuries on the employer and raises legitimate privacy concerns about the public release of sensitive employee data. WLF also warned that unintended disincentives wrought by the proposed rule may actually discourage the accurate reporting and recording of employee injuries, contrary to the rule’s intended purpose.
