Erwin Popkin, Esq

October, 2003               

Revised forms to record job-related injuries and illnesses in 2004, which include a new occupational hearing loss column, are now available, the Occupations Safety and Health Administration announced Oct. 2.    (click OSHA link for details)

In addition to the hearing loss column, OSHA said the revised "OSHA Form 300, Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses" also includes clearer formulas for calculating incidence rates and changes to make the forms easier to use.

Employers must begin to use the new form in January, 2004 for records to be posted in February 2005. OSHA said the forms for 2003 and 2002 will continue to be available on the agency's World Wide Web site. OSHA's revised recordkeeping rule went into effect Jan. 19, 2002, but provisions on recording hearing loss cases were delayed until January 1, 2003.

The new forms are available on the agency's Web site at http://www.osha.gov.  Hard copies of the revised OSHA 300 forms should be available beginning in November through the agency's online order form or by calling 800-321-6742.

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Indemnity Action Against Employer's Insurer Limited

An employee lacks standing to bring a direct action against her former employer's insurance carrier without first obtaining a judgment against the employer.

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Gov. George E. Pataki vetoed a bill designed to clarify enforcement of the state's prevailing wage law on certain projects calling the measure "ambiguous and overly broad".

The bill (S.4377) would have closed what supporters describe as a loophole created by a 1996 state court decision involving highway work at a mall in Syracuse.

In the case, the state Department of Transportation issued highway work permits to the owner of the mall, Pyramid Company, for construction of access ramps on state land. The court ruled that the state Department of Labor had no authority to enforce the prevailing wage law against the contractor performing the work for Pyramid since there was no direct contractual relationship between the state and the contractor.