OSHA recordkeeping (Form 300 log)
OSHA recordkeeping is the 29 CFR Part 1904 requirement that certain employers log recordable work-related injuries and illnesses on OSHA Form 300 or an equivalent.
You record each new, work-related case that meets OSHA’s general recording criteria (such as death or medical treatment beyond first aid) or its additional criteria. A company with 10 or fewer employees throughout the previous calendar year, or an establishment in certain industries, need not keep the forms unless the Bureau of Labor Statistics or OSHA informs it in writing, but must, with limited exceptions, report a work-related fatality, in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye to OSHA. In State Plan States, ask your State Plan whether exemptions apply.
What are Forms 300, 301, and 300A?
Form 300, the log, classifies each case and notes its extent and severity. Within 7 calendar days of learning of a case, you decide whether it is recordable and, if so, enter it on the log and complete Form 301, the incident report, or an equivalent. Each year, the four steps below summarize the log on Form 300A and post that summary, not the log; an equivalent summary must carry Form 300A’s employee access and employer penalty statements. You keep all three forms for 5 years after the year covered.
- 01
Review the log. Review the entries as extensively as necessary to verify they are complete and accurate, and correct any deficiencies.
- 02
Create the summary. Total the log’s columns (zeros if you had no recordable cases), then enter the calendar year covered, the company’s name, the establishment’s name and address, the annual average number of employees covered by the log, and the total hours worked by all employees covered by the log.
- 03
Certify it. A company executive certifies having examined the log and reasonably believing, based on knowledge of the process by which the information was recorded, that the summary is correct and complete: an owner (sole proprietorship or partnership only), a corporate officer, the highest ranking company official working at the establishment, or that official’s immediate supervisor.
- 04
Post it. Post a copy in each establishment, in a conspicuous place where notices to employees are customarily posted, no later than February 1 of the year following the year covered, and keep it in place, not altered, defaced, or covered by other material, until April 30.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Apply current federal and state rules with qualified guidance.