(a) Basic requirement. If you receive a Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses Form from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), or a BLS designee, you must promptly complete the form and return it following the instructions contained on the survey form.

(b) Implementation—(1) Does every employer have to send data to the BLS? No, each year, the BLS sends injury and illness survey forms to randomly selected employers and uses the information to create the Nation's occupational injury and illness statistics. In any year, some employers will receive a BLS survey form and others will not. You do not have to send injury and illness data to the BLS unless you receive a survey form.

(2) If I get a survey form from the BLS, what do I have to do? If you receive a Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses Form from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), or a BLS designee, you must promptly complete the form and return it, following the instructions contained on the survey form.

(3) Do I have to respond to a BLS survey form if I am normally exempt from keeping OSHA injury and illness records? Yes, even if you are exempt from keeping injury and illness records under § 1904.1 to § 1904.3, the BLS may inform you in writing that it will be collecting injury and illness information from you in the coming year. If you receive such a letter, you must keep the injury and illness records required by § 1904.5 to § 1904.15 and make a survey report for the year covered by the survey.

(4) Do I have to answer the BLS survey form if I am located in a State-Plan State? Yes, all employers who receive a survey form must respond to the survey, even those in State-Plan States.