On January 24, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), an agency within the Department of Labor, published a rule protecting worker privacy by keeping sensitive details about workers’ injuries away from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. Companies will still have to keep detailed records of employee injuries and illnesses, but will only have to submit summary data to the agency.

 

OSHA said the new rule was a deregulatory action following President Trump’s Executive Order 13771, which requires agencies to eliminate two old regulations for each new regulation. Under regulations set during the Obama administration, some employers had to submit detailed information to OSHA about employee illnesses and injuries every year.