New Penalties Proposed for Employers

Employers who fail to maintain or file reports of accidents, wages, benefits to taxes will be subject having their license suspended or revoked under a proposed rule. The proposed rule published by The Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) will empower NJ to strictly enforce compliance including compliance with the workers compensation law, NJSA 34:15-1, et seq.

Does OSHA Know Its Numbers: Questionable Counting of Workplace Injuries and Accidents

A debate is occurring in the occupational health community over whether or not the validity of the statistics produced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is accurate concerning their reporting of data in recent years that that reflects a decline in occupational injuries and illnesses. Charged with a record-keeping in 1995 OSHA has reported a constant decline annually in its statistical reports.

The agency's recent reporting has become the subject of an analysis by scholars who conclude that the substantial declines in the number of injuries and illnesses merely correspond directly with changes in OSHA's recordkeeping requirements. The report goes on to illustrate that the most significant changes in employment, production, and OSHA enforcement activity, and in fact sampling error just do not explain the large decline. The scientists report that the decline of 2.4 million injuries and illnesses were in fact statistically inaccurate. Over 83% of the decline can be attributed to merely the change in OSHA's recordkeeping requirements.