Image of nurses' hands at computer keyboard

Long-term care providers will now have until Dec. 15 to begin submitting workplace injury and illness data electronically, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced last week.

OSHA issued a rule last year requiring employers in high-hazard injuries, including skilled nursing, to submit data electronically through the office’s Injury Tracking Application. Submitting the information electronically will help “modernize” data collection, OSHA officials said at the time.

The original compliance deadline for that rule was set for July 1, 2017, but was extended in May with no indication of a new date.

In a notice posted Wednesday, OSHA announced that the new compliance date, Dec. 15, would allow employers “additional time to become familiar with a new electronic reporting system” that was launched in August.

Facilities located in California, Maryland, Minnesota, South Carolina, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming have not adopted OSHA’s requirement and are exempt from the deadline, as well as state and local government employers in Illinois, Maine, New Jersey and New York.

Future modifications to the rule to improve workplace injury tracking are currently being considered, and will be proposed in 2018, OSHA said.