Employer Responsibilities - Record-keeping Exemptions

Employers with 11 employees or more must keep records of work-related injuries and illnesses and make these available to employees. However, OSHA excludes employers with 10 or fewer employees and employers in certain low-hazard industries from this requirement.

OSHA states that its record-keeping requirements changed on January 1, 2015; and that, as a result, it now covers some previously exempt industries. The old Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system and injury and illness data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) from 1996, 1997, and 1998 served as the base for the previous list of partially exempt industries.

The new list of partially exempt industries in the updated rule uses the following as bases:

• The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
• Injury and illness data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) from 2007, 2008, and 2009

For reference, you can view the lists of both exempt and newly covered industries for details.

To determine if your work site must prepare and maintain records under the updated rule, you must first determine your NAICS code. You will now learn how to do this.

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