By Richard Negri SEIU 121RN Health & Safety Director

A Registered Nurse who attended our Cal/OSHA recordkeeping class on September 9 let the rest of the participants know exactly how she felt about the information some OSHA 300 logs we were reviewing revealed: "It makes my blood boil," she said, to everyone's agreement. This provided a moment for us to laugh a little at the timing and delivery of her statement. It was infuriating to see so many injuries and illnesses on the logs, and also frustrating to identify what was NOT on the logs, but should have been. This was the nature of the class, hosted by SEIU Local 121RN and the SEIU Nurse Alliance of California.

Facilitating the class with me were Kathy Hughes, RN, CCRN, Labor Specialist at SEIU 121RN and liaison to the Nurse Alliance of California, and Katy McNamara, CIH, an Industrial Hygienist with UCLA-LOSH. We broke the class up into two parts. The morning segment focused on definitions; we talked about OSHA, Cal/OSHA, and Right-to-Know laws, the Injury and Illness Prevention Program, and Cal/OSHA’s Recordkeeping Standard.

With basic definitions and acronyms out of the way, we spent the afternoon discussing the standard in more detail and how it contains three main pieces of documentation that employers are required by law to complete in the event of workplace injuries or illnesses: the 300 logs, the 301 forms, and the 300A forms. Using activities and group discussions, participants learned how to both read and analyze the records, and also how to use the records in the context of workplace health and safety committees.

We were excited that two Cal/OSHA representatives were able to join us for the day to answer specific questions from the members, staff, and representatives who attended the class. Thank you to everyone who attended – your participation truly made the day a huge success.