NAM files suit against OSHA injury and illness rule

Associated Industries of Missouri is the sole official designated partner of the National Association of Manufacturers in Missouri.

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) filed a lawsuit Friday seeking to block the Department of Labor’s OSHA injury and illness rule, scheduled to take effect August 10.

The rule requires employers and encourages employees to submit any work related illness or injury to a large electronic data base for public disclosure. According to a news release issued by the DOL, this new rule would “modernize injury data collection to better inform workers, employers, the public and OSHA about workplace hazards.”

NAM, however, disagrees with the rule, stating that it will sacrifice company privacy and open companies up to retaliation.

“The Department of Labor is putting a target on nearly every manufacturer of this country by moving this regulation forward,” said Linda Kelly, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for NAM. “Not only does OSHA lack statutory authority to enforce this rule, but the agency has failed to recognize infeasibility, costs, and real-world impact of what it preposterously suggests is just a mere tweak to a major regulation.”

NAM filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, The Hill reports.