The United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently issued a rule that will require companies to send injury and illness records so that the administration can make them publicly available online. The reporting requirements will start this August and allow employers to phase in the new data reporting.

Many employers are already required to keep records of injuries or illnesses incurred at their worksite, and they use their own data to correct issues at their workplaces. Now the administration is requiring high-hazard industries to send the data electronically so that OSHA can make information about specific workplaces available to the public. The administration says the idea is similar to how restaurants post their health grades for all to see, and say that no employer wants the public to know that they are running an unsafe workplace.

The hope is that the public reports encourage employers to put a greater focus on safety and to try and prevent injuries on the job, as well as show job seekers where the safest places to work might be. OSHA hopes that may make competitive companies work even harder at preventing injuries so they attract the best prospects.

Having this data available can also assist OSHA in identifying where their resources and enforcement efforts are most needed. This is going to be the largest set of data that is available to the public on workplace injuries and illnesses.

Part of the new rules also advocate for employees to report injuries without fear of retaliation, and emphasize that employers must not discourage employees from reporting illnesses or injuries at work. Workplace injuries that are not reported could skew the data and mislead researchers when they are trying to identify causes of injuries or common hazards.

Employers with over 250 workers in high-risk industries identified by OSHA like agriculture, construction, department store work, grocery store work, freight trucking, nursing care and any others on the list are expected to submit data for OSHA to present. The reporting requirements are going to be phased in over the next two years.