Occupational Safety & Health Administration's High Injury and Illness Notification and Site Specific Targeting 2001 Inspection Plan

On February 25, 2002, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA") sent letters to over 13,000 employers notifying them that its 2001 Data Initiative (collecting data for calendar year 2000) showed that they had the highest Lost Workday Injury and Illness ("LWDII") rates in the country. Importantly, these letters are not part of the Site Specific Targeting 2001 ("SST-2001") Program which was OSHA's national emphasis inspection program (using 1999 injury and illness data) for the year 2001. Rather, SST-2001 program has been extended through July 13, 2002, and the letters represent a warning from OSHA based on the more recent injury and illness data. It is important that employers take notice of these letters because OSHA has suggested remedial resources including consultation programs employers will want to consider carefully before utilizing and because the recipients of the letters will likely be included in the SST-2002 Program under which OSHA will conduct comprehensive wall to wall safety and health inspections of worksites.

In its past SST inspection programs, OSHA has used Bureau of Labor Statistics in its Data Initiatives to find those employers reporting a Lost Workday Injury and Illness ("LWDII") rate of 8.0 or higher. In 2000, this criteria identified more than 14,000 employers who were then notified that they were being placed on the inspection list for the SST-2001 Program. That program led to the inspections of more than 3,000 worksites nationwide and, with the extension of the Program, SST-2001 inspections are continuing.

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