Who is required to keep work-related injury and illness records?

• All employers covered by the OSH Act must keep records of injury or illness as detailed in Part 1904, with some exceptions for size and industry category.

All employers covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) are covered by the Part 1904 regulations. However, many employers do not have to keep Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) injury and illness records unless OSHA or the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) informs them in writing that they must keep records. For example, employers with 10 or fewer employees and business establishments in certain industry classifications are partially exempt from keeping OSHA injury and illness records.

What is the partial exemption for size?

The partial exemption for size is based on the number of employees in the entire company. To determine this, employers must examine their peak employment during the last calendar year.

Employers who had 10 or fewer employees at all times during the last calendar year do not need to keep OSHA injury and illness records unless OSHA or the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) informs the employer in writing that they must keep records under 1904.41 or 1904.42.

Employers who had more than 10 employees at any time during the last calendar year must keep OSHA injury and illness records unless the establishment is classified as a partially exempt industry under 1904.2.

What is the partial exemption for industry category?

If a business establishment is classified in a specific industry group listed in Appendix A to Subpart B, they do not need to keep OSHA injury and illness records unless the government asks the company to keep the records under 1904.41 or 1904.42. If one or more of the company’s establishments are classified in a non-exempt industry, the company must keep OSHA injury and illness records for all of such establishments unless partially exempted because of size under 1904.1.

The partial industry classification exemption applies to individual business establishments. If a company has several business establishments engaged in different classes of business activities, some of the company’s establishments may be required to keep records, while others may be partially exempt.

What if an employer is required to keep records for another agency?

If an employer creates records to comply with another government agency’s injury and illness recordkeeping requirements, OSHA will consider those records as meeting OSHA’s Part 1904 requirements if OSHA accepts the other agency’s records under a memorandum of understanding with that agency, or if the other agency’s records contain the same information as required by Part 1904. Employers should contact the nearest OSHA office or state agency for help in determining whether their records meet OSHA’s requirements.

When must an employer provide records to an authorized government representative?

When an authorized government representative asks for an employer’s records kept under Part 1904, such as during an OSHA inspection, the employer must provide copies of the records within four business hours.

If the employer’s records are retained at a centralized location in a different time zone, the employer may use the business hours of the establishment at which the records are located when calculating the four-hour deadline.

What are the recordkeeping criteria?

• Employers must keep records of each fatality, injury or illness that meets the three recording criteria.

Employers must keep records of each fatality, injury, or illness that is:

1. Work related; and
2. A new case; and
3. Meets one or more of the general recording criteria.

In addition, there are recording criteria for specific cases such as hearing loss cases, tuberculosis, medical removals, and needlesticks and sharps injuries. These are found in sections 1904.8-1904.11.

Note that just because an employee makes a report of an injury or illness, that doesn’t automatically mean a case is recordable. In determining whether a case is recordable, an employer must first decide whether an injury or illness has occurred. The employer may consult with a physician or other health care professional for evaluation and may consider the health care professional’s opinion in determining whether an injury or illness exists.

Once it has been determined that an injury or illness exists, employers can consult 1904.4 for a decision tree that show the steps in determining whether or not a particular injury or illness case must be recorded on the OSHA forms.

What are the recordkeeping forms?

• OSHA injury and illness records should be recorded on Forms 300, 300A, and 301, or other equivalent forms if applicable.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 300, 300A, and 301 forms, or equivalent forms, are used for recordable injuries and illnesses. The OSHA 300 form is called the Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, the OSHA 300A is the Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, and the OSHA 301 form is called the Injury and Illness Incident Report.

What are equivalent forms?

An equivalent form is one that has the same information, is as readable and understandable, and is completed using the same instructions as the OSHA form it replaces. Many employers use an insurance form instead of the OSHA 301 Incident Report or supplement an insurance form by adding any additional information required by OSHA.

May records be kept on a computer?

If the computer can produce equivalent forms when they are needed, as described under 1904.35 and 1904.40, records may be kept using the computer system.

How should an employer keep records for multiple establishments?

• Employers must maintain separate OSHA 300 Logs for each establishment, if the business includes multiple establishments.

When an employer has multiple business establishments, it must keep a separate Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 300 Log for each one that is expected to be in operation for a year or longer.

An establishment is a single physical location where business is conducted or where services or industrial operations are performed. For activities where employees do not work at a single physical location, such as construction, transportation, communications, electric, gas and sanitary services, and similar operations, the establishment is represented by main or branch offices, terminals, stations, etc. that either supervise such activities or are the base from which personnel carry out these activities.

For short-term establishments, employers can keep one OSHA 300 Log that covers all the short-term establishments and include the short-term establishments’ recordable injuries and illnesses on an OSHA 300 Log that covers short-term establishments for individual company divisions or geographic regions.

Can records be kept at company headquarters or another central location?

An employer may keep records for an establishment at its headquarters or other central location if the employer can:

• Transmit information about the injuries and illnesses from the establishment to the central location within seven calendar days of receiving information that a recordable injury or illness has occurred; and
• Produce and send the records from the central location to the establishment within the time frames required by 1904.35 and 1904.40 when required to provide records to a government representative, employees, former employees, or employee representatives.

How do employers keep records for employees who work at several different locations or do not work at an establishment?

For recording purposes, employees who work at several different locations or do not work in a specific location at all will need to be linked to one of the employer’s business locations.

When an employee from one location is injured or becomes ill while visiting or working at another of the same employer’s locations, the injury or illness should be recorded on the OSHA 300 Log of the location at which the injury or illness occurred. If an employee is injured or becomes ill while working away from any of the employer’s business locations, record the case on the 300 Log at the location where the employee normally works.

Which employees are covered by the recordkeeping requirements?

• Covered employees are all employees on an employer’s payroll, including temporary workers who are supervised by the employer day to day.

Covered employees include all employees on an employer’s payroll, whether they are labor, executive, hourly, salary, part-time, seasonal, or migrant workers. Covered employees also include temporary employees who are not on the employer’s payroll, but who the employer supervises on a day-to-day basis. If a business is organized as a sole proprietorship or partnership, the owner or partners are not considered employees.

Self-employed persons

If a business is organized as a sole proprietorship or partnership, the owner or partners are not considered employees for recordkeeping purposes. Likewise, self-employed individuals are not covered by the recordkeeping regulation and do not need to record it if they become ill or are injured while doing work in their establishments.

Temporary employees or contractors

When injuries or illnesses occur to employees from a temporary help service, employee leasing service, or personnel supply service, the employer should record these on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 300 Log if the employer supervises those employees on a day-to-day basis.

If a contractor’s employee is under the daily supervision of the contractor, the contractor is responsible for recording any injury or illness. But, if an employer supervises a contractor employee’s work on a day-to-day basis, any recordable injury or illness should be recorded on the employer’s OSHA 300 Log.

Each injury or illness must be recorded only once. The employer and the temporary help service, employee leasing service, personnel supply service, or contractor need to coordinate the recordkeeping to make sure that each injury and illness is recorded only once, either on the employer’s OSHA 300 Log (if they provide daily supervision) or on the agency’s OSHA 300 Log (if that company provides daily supervision).

What is day-to-day supervision?

Day-to-day supervision occurs when in addition to specifying the output, product, or result to be accomplished by the person’s work, the employer supervises the details, means, methods, and processes by which the work is to be accomplished.

What is the Annual Summary?

• The OSHA 300A is an annual summary of injuries and illnesses at a workplace.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 300A Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses is a form required for posting the annual summary of injuries and illnesses in a workplace.

At the end of each calendar year, an employer should:

• Review the OSHA 300 Log to verify that the entries are complete and accurate, and correct any deficiencies identified.
• Create an annual summary by totaling the columns on the 300 Log. If there were no recordable cases, the employer would enter zeros for each column total. Using the OSHA 300A form (or an equivalent), an employer should enter the calendar year covered, the company’s name, establishment name, establishment address, annual average number of employees covered by the 300 Log, and the total hours worked by all employees covered by the Log. If an employer is using an equivalent form, also include the employee access and employer penalty statements found on the OSHA 300A Summary.
• Certify that the information in the 300 Log is accurate and complete. Certification must be done by a company executive. The company executive may be the owner (only if the company is a sole proprietorship or partnership), an officer in the corporation, or the highest ranking official (or that person’s immediate supervisor) working at the establishment.
• Post a copy of the annual summary in each establishment in a conspicuous place or places where notices to employees are customarily posted. It should be posted no later than February 1 of the year following the year covered by the records and should be kept in place until April 30. During that time, the 300A Summary should always be available for employees to view.

What are the retention requirements?

• OSHA records regarding injury and illness in the workplace must be kept for five years following the year that the records cover.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 300 Log, the privacy case log(if one exists), the 300A Summary, and the OSHA 301 Incident Report forms must be kept for five years following the end of the calendar year that these records cover.

If, during the five-year storage period, newly discovered recordable injuries or illnesses occur, the stored 300 Logs should be updated to include the new information. If the description or outcome of a case changes, the original entry should be removed and the new information entered. It is not required to update the 300A Annual Summary or 301 Incident Report, but it is optional.

What if a business changes ownership?

If a business changes ownership, the owner is responsible for recording and reporting work-related injuries and illnesses only for that period of the year during which the new owner owned the establishment.

When injury and illness records are transferred to a new owner, that owner must save all records of the establishment kept by the prior owner, but need not update or correct them.

Involving employees and their representatives in the recordkeeping system

• Employers must establish procedures for reporting work-related injuries and illnesses and inform all employees of the reporting procedure.
• Employers may not discriminate against employees who report work-related injuries or illnesses.
• Employers must share injury and illness records with employees, former employees, and their representatives.

Employers must establish a reasonable procedure for employees to report work-related injuries and illnesses promptly and accurately. A procedure is not reasonable if it would deter or discourage a reasonable employee from accurately reporting a workplace injury or illness. Employers must inform each employee of the procedure for reporting work-related injuries and illnesses.

An employer must also inform each employee that:

• Employees have the right to report work-related injuries and illnesses; and
• Employers must not discharge or in any manner discriminate against any employee for reporting a work-related injury or illness.

Section 11(c) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) prohibits employers from discriminating against an employee for reporting a work-related fatality, injury, or illness. That provision of the Act also protects the employee who files a safety and health complaint, asks for access to the Part 1904 records, or otherwise exercises any rights afforded by the OSH Act.

Reporting work-related fatalities and severe injuries to OSHA

• Employers must report work-related fatalities to OSHA within eight hours.
• Employers must report work-related inpatient hospitalizations, amputations, or loss of an eye within 24 hours.

Within eight hours after the death of any employee as a result of a work-related incident, an employer must report the fatality to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Within 24 hours after the inpatient hospitalization of one or more employees or an employee’s amputation or an employee’s loss of an eye, as a result of a work-related incident, an employer must report the inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye to OSHA.

Note that state-plan states may have more restrictive reporting requirements.

Reporting the work-related fatality, inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye must be done using one of the following methods:

• By telephone or in person to the OSHA Area Office that is nearest to the site of the incident.
• By telephone to the OSHA toll-free central telephone number, 1-800-321-OSHA (1-800-321-6742).
• By electronic submission using the reporting application located on OSHA’s public website at www.osha.gov/report.

This report may not be left as a voice message to the Area Office. If the Area Office is closed, employers must report the fatality, inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye using either the 800 number or the reporting application located on OSHA’s public website.

An employer must give OSHA the following information for each fatality, inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye:

• The establishment name;
• The location of the work-related incident;
• The time of the work-related incident;
• The type of reportable event (i.e., fatality, inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye);
• The number of employees who suffered a fatality, inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye;
• The names of the employees who suffered a fatality, inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye;
• The employer’s contact person and the contact’s phone number; and
• A brief description of the work-related incident.

Are deaths that occur more than 30 days after the incident reportable to OSHA?

Employers must only report a fatality to OSHA if the fatality occurs within 30 days of the work-related incident. However, the fatality must be recorded on the employer’s OSHA injury and illness records, if the employer is required to keep such records.

Are hospitalizations, amputations, or the loss of an eye reportable to OSHA if they occur more than 24 hours after the incident?

For an inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye, an employer must only report the event to OSHA if it occurs within 24 hours of the work-related incident. However, the fatality, inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye must be recorded on the employer’s OSHA injury and illness records, if the employer is required to keep such records.

For example, if an employee injured a knee and was scheduled for surgery two weeks later involving hospitalization, that incident would not have to be reported to OSHA because the hospitalization occurred more than 24 hours after the workplace incident.

What if an incident occurs in a work zone?

If a motor vehicle accident occurs in a construction work zone and results in injury, the employer must report the fatality, inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye. If a motor vehicle accident occurs on a public street or highway, but not in a construction work zone, the employer does not have to report the fatality, inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye to OSHA. However, the fatality, inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye must be recorded on the employer’s OSHA injury and illness records, if the employer is required to keep such records.

What if an incident occurs on commercial or public transportation system?

An employer does not have to report the fatality, inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye to OSHA if it occurred on a commercial or public transportation system (e.g., airplane, train, subway, or bus). However, the fatality, inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye must be recorded on the employer’s OSHA injury and illness records, if the employer is required to keep such records.

What is the definition of an amputation?

An amputation is the traumatic loss of a limb or other external body part. Amputations include a part, such as a limb or appendage, that has been severed, cut off, amputated (either completely or partially); fingertip amputations with or without bone loss; medical amputations resulting from irreparable damage; and amputations of body parts that have since been reattached. Amputations do not include avulsions, enucleations, deglovings, scalpings, severed ears, or broken or chipped teeth.

What is a reportable hospitalization?

OSHA defines inpatient hospitalization as a formal admission to the inpatient service of a hospital or clinic for care or treatment. For example, going to the emergency room for sutures is outpatient treatment, not an inpatient hospitalization.

Employers do not have to report a hospitalization that involves only observation or diagnostic testing. They must only report to OSHA each inpatient hospitalization that involves care or treatment.

What is a reportable loss of sight?

Loss of sight without the physical removal of the eye is not a reportable event under the requirements in Section 1904.39. However, a case involving loss of sight that results in the inpatient hospitalization of the worker within 24 hours of the work-related incident is reportable.

What is a reportable heart attack?

Employers must report a fatality or inpatient hospitalization due to a work-related heart attack. The local OSHA Office director will decide whether to investigate a heart attack event, depending on the circumstances.

When employers report a severe injury or fatality, do they still need to record the case on their OSHA Logs?

The fatality, inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye must be recorded on the employer’s OSHA injury and illness records, if the employer is required to keep such records.

What are the electronic submission requirements for injury data?

• Certain employers must submit injury data electronically, depending on their size and industry classification.
• The electronic submission deadline is March 2 of each year.
• OSHA offers a website where submissions may be made.

Effective January 1, 2024, OSHA requires three categories of employers to submit injury data. Reporting obligations are based on each establishment’s size and/or North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code.

If an establishment had 250 or more employees at any time during the previous calendar year and is required under Part 1904 to keep records, the employer must electronically submit information from Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Form 300A Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses to OSHA.

If an establishment had 20 or more employees but fewer than 250 employees at any time during the previous calendar year and is classified in an industry listed in Appendix A to Subpart E of Part 1904, the employer must electronically submit information from OSHA Form 300A Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses to OSHA.

If an establishment had 100 or more employees at any time during the previous calendar year and is classified in an industry listed in Appendix B to Subpart E of Part 1904, the employer must electronically submit information from the 300A along with certain information from the 300 Log and 301 Forms.

What is the submission deadline?

Covered establishments must submit their data to OSHA by March 2 every year.

Where is the data submitted?

OSHA provides a website at www.osha.gov/injuryreporting/ita/ that offers three options for data submission. First, users may manually enter data into a web form. Second, users may upload a CSV file to process single or multiple establishments at the same time. Last, users may transmit data electronically via an API (application programming interface). Employers will need to create a login account to use the site.

Must the employer provide an Employer Identification Number (EIN)?

Yes. An Employer Identification Number (EIN) is a nine-digit number that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assigns to a business for tax purposes. Any business that has employees or operates as a corporation or partnership must obtain an EIN before beginning operations.

Will OSHA notify employers of their obligation to submit 300A data?

No, OSHA will not notify the employer about the submittal obligation.

Do employers in State Plan States need to submit their data to OSHA?

Yes, the requirements apply to employers located in State Plan States. Generally, these states require employers to use the federal submission site.

May employers with more than one location submit their data through an enterprise or corporate office?

Yes, if an enterprise or corporate office has ownership of or control over one or more establishments required to submit information under paragraph (a) of 1904.41

When does the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) request data from employers?

• The BLS randomly selects some employers to report on their injury and illness statistics each year.

Each year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (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. Employers do not have to send injury and illness data to the BLS unless they receive a survey form.

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

Even if an employer is exempt from keeping injury and illness records under 1904.1 to 1904.3, the BLS may inform an employer in writing that it will be collecting injury and illness information from that employer in the coming year. If an employer receives such a letter, the employer 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.

What makes a case work-related?

• If an injury or illness happens at work, it is most likely considered work-related.

Work-relatedness is presumed for injuries and illnesses that occur at work unless a specific exemption applies. To be work related, injuries and illnesses do not need to have a clear connection to a specific work activity, condition, or substance that is peculiar to the employment environment. For instance, an employee may trip for no reason on a clean, dry, level factory floor. However, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) says that a causal connection is established by the fact that the injury would not have occurred but for the conditions and obligations of employment that placed the employee in the position to be injured or made ill. In other words, if it happens at work, it’s most likely work related. This is known as the geographic presumption.

When is an injury or illness a new case?

• Part 1904 offers guidance on what is considered a recordable new case of injury or illness.

An injury or illness is considered a new case if:

• The employee has not previously experienced a recorded injury or illness of the same type that affects the same part of the body, or
• The employee has previously experienced a recorded injury or illness of the same type that affected the same part of the body but has recovered completely (all signs and symptoms have disappeared) from the previous injury or illness and an event or exposure in the work environment caused the signs or symptoms to reappear.

For occupational illnesses, where the signs or symptoms may recur or continue in the absence of an exposure in the workplace, the case must only be recorded once. Examples may include occupational cancer, asbestosis, byssinosis and silicosis.

For work-related asthma, if an episode or recurrence was caused by an event or exposure in the workplace, the incident must be treated as a new case.

If employers seek advice from a physician on whether a case is a new case, do they have to use that recommendation?

Employers are not required to seek the advice of a physician or other licensed healthcare professional. However, if an employer does seek such advice, they must follow the physician’s or other licensed healthcare professional’s recommendation about whether the case is a new case or a recurrence. If the employer receives recommendations from two or more physicians or other licensed healthcare professionals, they must make a decision as to which recommendation is the most authoritative (best documented, best reasoned, or most authoritative), and record the case based upon that recommendation.

What are the general recording criteria?

• Part 1904 defines what types of work-related injuries and illnesses are recordable events based on outcomes or treatment.

A work-related new injury or illness must be recorded in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 300 Log if it results in one or more of the following:

• Death. See 1904.7(b)(2).
• Days away from work. See 1904.7(b)(3).
• Restricted work or transfer to another job. See 1904.7(b)(4).
• Medical treatment beyond first aid. See 1904.7(b)(5).
• Loss of consciousness. See 1904.7(b)(6).
• A significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed healthcare professional. See 1904.7(b)(7).

What kinds of cases are considered a privacy concern?

• Certain types of injury and illness cases are considered a privacy concern and should be recorded in such a way that the employee’s name remains confidential.

In a privacy concern case, the employee’s name should not be entered on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 300 Log. Instead, the employer should enter “privacy case” in the space normally used for the employee’s name. This will protect the privacy of the injured or ill employee when another employee, a former employee, or an authorized employee representative is provided access to the OSHA 300 Log under 1904.35(b)(2). Employers must keep a separate, confidential list of the case numbers and employee names for privacy concern cases so they can update the cases and provide the information to the government if asked to do so.

The following privacy concern cases are the only types of occupational injuries and illnesses that fall under this category:

• An injury or illness to an intimate body part or the reproductive system;
• An injury or illness resulting from a sexual assault;
• Mental illnesses;
• HIV infection, hepatitis, or tuberculosis;
• Needlestick injuries and cuts from sharp objects that are contaminated with another person’s blood or other potentially infectious material (see 1904.8 for definitions); and
• Other illnesses, if the employee independently and voluntarily requests that their name not be entered on the Log.

Identifiable information

In certain injury or illness cases, coworkers who are allowed to access the OSHA 300 Log may be able to deduce the identity of the injured or ill worker and obtain inappropriate knowledge of a privacy-sensitive injury or illness. For instance, knowing the department in which the employee works could inadvertently divulge the person’s identity.

If there is a reasonable basis to believe that information describing the privacy concern case may be personally identifiable even though the employee’s name has been omitted, employers should use discretion in describing the injury or illness on both the OSHA 300 and 301 forms. An employer can enter enough information to identify the cause of the incident and the general severity of the injury or illness without including details of an intimate or private nature. For example, a sexual assault case could be described as “injury from assault,” or an injury to a reproductive organ could be described as “lower abdominal injury.”

If an employer decides to voluntarily disclose recordkeeping forms to persons other than government representatives, employees, former employees or authorized representatives, it is necessary to first remove or hide the employees’ names and other personally identifying information, except for the following cases. Forms with personally identifying information may be disclosed only to:

• An auditor or consultant hired by the employer to evaluate the safety and health program;
• The extent necessary for processing a claim for workers’ compensation or other insurance benefits; or
• A public health authority or law enforcement agency for uses and disclosures for which consent, an authorization, or opportunity to agree or object is not required.

What are the recording criteria for needlesticks and sharps?

• Employers must record all work-related needlestick injuries or cuts from sharp objects that are contaminated with blood or other potentially infectious material.
• If the injured employee is later diagnosed with an infectious bloodborne disease, the case will need to be updated in the OSHA 300 Log from injury to illness.

Employers should record all work-related needlestick injuries and cuts from sharp objects that are contaminated with another person’s blood or other potentially infectious material (as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s [OSHA] Bloodborne Pathogens standard at 1910.1030). Such cases should be recorded on the OSHA 300 Log as an injury; however, to protect the employee’s privacy, the employee’s name should not be entered on the OSHA 300 Log. Instead, the employer should enter “privacy case” in the space normally used for the employee’s name.

If the injured employee is later diagnosed with an infectious bloodborne disease, the employer should update the classification of the case on the OSHA 300 Log if the case results in death, days away from work, restricted work, or job transfer. The description should be updated to identify the infectious disease and change the classification of the case from an injury (a needlestick) to an illness (that resulted from the needlestick).

The employer should record incidents where employees are splashed with or exposed to blood or other potentially infectious material without being cut or scratched only if it results in the diagnosis of a bloodborne illness, such as HIV, hepatitis B, or hepatitis C; or if it meets one or more of the general recording criteria.

Employers may use the OSHA 300 and 301 forms to meet the sharps injury log requirement at 1910.1030(h)(5) in the Bloodborne Pathogens standard. To fulfill this requirement, an employer should enter the type and brand of the device causing the sharps injury on either form and maintain records in a way that segregates sharps injuries from other types of work-related injuries and illnesses, or allows sharps injuries to be easily separated.

What are other potentially infectious materials?

Other Potentially Infectious Materials (OPIM) means (1) The following human body fluids: semen, vaginal secretions, cerebrospinal fluid, synovial fluid, pleural fluid, pericardial fluid, peritoneal fluid, amniotic fluid, saliva in dental procedures, any body fluid that is visibly contaminated with blood, and all body fluids in situations where it is difficult or impossible to differentiate between body fluids; (2) Any unfixed tissue or organ (other than intact skin) from a human (living or dead); and (3) HIV-containing cell or tissue cultures, organ cultures, and HIV- or HBV-containing culture medium or other solutions; and blood, organs, or other tissues from experimental animals infected with HIV or HBV.

Must all cuts, lacerations, punctures and scratches be recorded?

Employers need to record cuts, lacerations, punctures, and scratches only if they are work related and involve contamination with another person’s blood or other potentially infectious material. If the cut, laceration, or scratch involves a clean object, or a contaminant other than blood or other potentially infectious material, an employer should record the case only if it meets one or more of the general recording criteria.

What are the recording criteria for medical removals?

• Cases involving medical removals must be recorded on the OSHA 300 Log.

If an employee is medically removed under the medical surveillance requirements of an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standard, the employer must record the case on the OSHA 300 Log as either a case involving days away from work or a case involving restricted work activity, depending on how the employer decides to comply with the medical removal requirement. If the medical removal is the result of a chemical exposure, the case should be entered on the OSHA 300 Log by checking the “poisoning” column.

Some OSHA standards, such as lead, cadmium, methylene chloride, formaldehyde, and benzene, have medical removal requirements. If an employee is medically removed under a standard’s medical surveillance requirements, the case must be recorded on the OSHA 300 Log.

If the case involves voluntary medical removal before the medical removal levels required by an OSHA standard, the case does not need to be reported on the OSHA 300 Log.

What is the basic requirement for recording hearing loss cases?

• Employers must provide hearing protectors to all employees who are exposed to excessive noise in the workplace.
• If a hearing loss incident occurs, it must be recorded in the employer’s OSHA 300 Log.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) hearing conservation program, employers must develop a program for all workers exposed to eight-hour time-weighted average (TWA) noise levels of 85 dB or above.

What is a standard threshold shift (STS)?

A standard threshold shift (STS) is a change in hearing threshold, relative to an employee’s baseline audiogram (hearing test), averaging 10 decibels (dB) or more at 2000, 3000, and 4000 hertz (Hz) in one or both ears. If an employee’s audiogram reveals that a work-related STS has occurred in one or both ears, and the total hearing level is 25 decibels or more above audiometric zero in the same ears as the STS, the case is recordable.

Employers must record these cases by checking the “hearing loss” column on the OSHA 300 Log.

Can the current audiogram be adjusted to reflect the effects of aging on hearing?

Employers may take into account the hearing loss that occurs as a result of the aging process and retest an employee who has a standard threshold shift (STS) on an audiogram to ensure that the STS is permanent before recording it. Retesting allows employers to exclude false positive results and temporary threshold shifts from the data. If the employee’s hearing is tested within 30 days of the first test, and the retest does not confirm the STS, the employer is not required to record the hearing loss case on the OSHA 300 Log. However, if the retest confirms the STS, the hearing loss illness should be recorded within seven calendar days of the retest. Employers may not use an age adjustment when determining whether the employee’s total hearing level is 25 dB or more above audiometric zero.

When comparing audiogram results, an employer should adjust the results for the employee’s age when the audiogram was taken using Tables F-1 or F-2, as appropriate, in Appendix F of the Occupational Noise Exposure standard at 1910.95.

Hearing loss is presumed to be work related if the employee is exposed to noise in the workplace at an eight-hour time-weighted average of 85 dBA or greater, or to a total noise dose of 50 percent, as defined in OSHA’s Occupational Noise Exposure standard. Noise dose is defined as the amount of actual employee exposure to noise relative to the permissible exposure limit for noise. A dose greater than 100 percent represents exposure above the limit. For hearing loss cases where the employee is not exposed to this level of noise, employers should refer to the rules in 1904.5 to determine if the hearing loss is work related.

If a physician or healthcare professional determines that the hearing loss is not work related or has not been significantly aggravated by occupational noise exposure, it is not required to consider the case work related or to record the case on the OSHA 300 Log. Examples include hearing loss that occurs before the employee was hired or those unrelated to workplace noise, such as off-the-job traumatic injury to the ear or infections.

Do employers have to record a hearing loss case if they plan to retest the employee’s hearing?

If the employee’s hearing is retested within 30 days of the first test, and the retest does not confirm the recordable standard threshold shift (STS), the employer is not required to record the hearing loss case on the OSHA 300 Log. If the retest confirms the recordable STS, the hearing loss illness should be recorded within seven calendar days of the retest. If subsequent audiometric testing performed under the testing requirements of the 1910.95 noise standard indicates that an STS is not persistent, it is permitted to erase or line-out the recorded entry.

Are there special rules to determine if a hearing loss case is work related?

Employers should use the rules in 1904.5 to determine if the hearing loss is work related. If an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the hearing loss, or significantly aggravated a pre-existing hearing loss, the case is considered to be work related.

What are the nine exceptions to work-relatedness?

• Part 1904 outlines nine exceptions that do not need to be reported as work-related injury or illness events.

Work-relatedness is presumed for injuries and illnesses resulting from events or exposures occurring in the work environment, except under the following conditions, which are not work-related.

1. At the time of the injury or illness, the employee was present in the work environment as a member of the general public rather than as an employee. In these situations, the injury or illness has nothing to do with the employee’s work or status as an employee.

Non-recordable — An employee of a retail store patronizes that store as a customer on a non-workday and is injured in a fall.

2. The injury or illness involves signs or symptoms that surface at work but result solely from a non-work-related event or exposure that occurs outside the work environment. For this exception to apply, the work environment cannot have caused, contributed to, or significantly aggravated the injury or illness.

Non-recordable — A diabetic incident occurs while an employee is working. No event or exposure at work contributed in any way to the incident.

Recordable — An employee suffers a back injury at home and takes a prescription painkiller, but is able to perform all job functions. The employee then aggravates the back injury at work and requires days away because of that aggravation.

3. The injury or illness results solely from voluntary participation in a wellness program or in a medical, fitness, or recreational activity such as blood donation, physical examination, flu shot, exercise class, racquetball, or baseball. This allows the employer to exclude cases that are related to personal matters of exercise, recreation, medical examinations, or participation in blood donation programs when the activities are voluntary and are not being undertaken as a condition of work.

Non-recordable — A worker is injured while performing aerobics in the company gymnasium during the lunch hour.

Non-recordable — An employee suffers a severe reaction to a flu shot that was administered as part of a voluntary inoculation program.

4. The injury or illness is solely the result of an employee eating, drinking, or preparing food or drink for personal consumption, whether bought on the employer’s premises or brought in.

Note: If the employee is made ill by eating food contaminated by workplace contaminants (such as lead), or gets food poisoning from food supplied by the company for a business meeting or company function, the case would be considered work related.

Non-recordable — An employee is injured by choking on a sandwich brought from home while at work. Likewise, if the employee contracts food poisoning from a sandwich brought from home or purchased in the company cafeteria and must take time off to recover, the case is not considered work related.

Non-recordable — An employee eating a lunch provided by the employer chips a tooth on an olive pit. Since the injury did not result from food poisoning or food contamination from the workplace, the incident is not recordable.

5. The injury or illness is solely the result of an employee doing personal tasks unrelated to employment at the establishment outside of the employee’s assigned working hours (off-shift time).

Non-recordable — An employee uses a meeting room at the company, outside of assigned work hours, to hold a meeting for a civic group and slips and falls in the hallway.

Recordable — An employee is knitting during the lunch break and accidentally is stabbed with a knitting needle, requiring stitches. Although this was a personal task unrelated to employment, it occurred within assigned working hours (meal periods are within assigned working hours).

6. The injury or illness is solely the result of personal grooming, self-medication for a non-work-related condition, or is intentionally self-inflicted, such as attempted suicide.

Non-recordable — A burn injury from a hair dryer used at work to dry the employee’s hair.

Non-recordable — A negative reaction to a medication brought from home to treat a non-work-related condition.

Recordable — An employee punches a wall in anger, breaking several bones in the hand. Since the employee did not intend to cause the injury, it was not intentionally self-inflicted and does not meet this exception.

7. The injury or illness is caused by a motor vehicle accident and occurs on a company parking lot or company access road while the employee is commuting to or from work or on a personal errand.

Non-recordable — An employee is injured in a car accident while arriving at work, or while leaving the company’s property at the end of the day.

Note: If an employee is injured in a car accident while leaving the property to purchase supplies for work, the case is considered work related. Likewise, if an employee is injured by slipping on ice in the parking lot, the case is work related.

8. The illness is the common cold or flu. These can be excluded, even if contracted while the employee was at work.

Note: Employers must evaluate cases of contagious diseases such as tuberculosis, brucellosis, or hepatitis C to determine if they are work related.

9. The illness is a mental illness. Mental illness will not be considered work related unless the employee voluntarily provides the employer with an opinion from a physician or other licensed healthcare professional with appropriate training and experience, such as a psychiatrist, psychologist, or psychiatric nurse practitioner, stating that the employee has a mental illness that is work related.

Note: If the employer does not believe the reported mental illness is work related, the employer may refer the case to a physician or other licensed healthcare professional for a second opinion.

Can a preexisting injury or illness be work-related?

• Preexisting injuries and illness may become recordable if the condition is significantly aggravated by events or conditions in the workplace.

A preexisting injury or illness may become recordable under Part 1904 if the condition has been significantly aggravated by events or conditions in the workplace. Significantly aggravated, for purposes of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) injury and illness recordkeeping, is when an event or exposure in the work environment results in any of the following:

• Death, provided that the preexisting injury or illness would likely not have resulted in death but for the occupational event or exposure.
• Loss of consciousness, provided that the preexisting injury or illness would likely not have resulted in loss of consciousness but for the occupational event or exposure.
• One or more days away from work, or days of restricted work, or days of job transfer that otherwise would not have occurred but for the occupational event or exposure.
• Medical treatment in a case where no medical treatment was needed for the injury or illness before the workplace event or exposure, or a change in medical treatment was necessitated by the workplace event or exposure.

How is work-relatedness determined when an employee is on travel status?

• Injuries and illness that occur while an employee is traveling for work must be recorded under Part 1904, unless certain conditions apply.

Injuries and illnesses that occur while an employee is on travel status are work related if, at the time of the injury or illness, the employee was engaged in work activities “in the interest of the employer.” Examples of such activities include travel to and from customer contacts, conducting job tasks, and entertaining or being entertained to transact, discuss, or promote business (work-related entertainment includes only entertainment activities being engaged in at the direction of the employer).

Injuries or illnesses that occur when the employee is on travel status do not have to be recorded if they meet one of the exceptions listed below.

• 1904.5(b)(6)(i): When traveling employees check into a hotel, motel, or into another temporary residence, they establish a “home away from home.” Employers must evaluate employee activities after they check into the hotel, motel, or other temporary residence for work-relatedness in the same manner as evaluating the activities of an employee working from home. When employees check into the temporary residence, they are considered to have left the work environment. When employees begin work each day, they re-enter the work environment. If the employee has established a “home away from home” and is reporting to a fixed worksite each day, employers also do not consider injuries or illnesses work related if they occur while the employee is commuting between the temporary residence and the job location.
• 1904.5(b)(6)(ii): Injuries or illnesses are not considered work related if they occur while the employee is on a personal detour from a reasonably direct route of travel (e.g., has taken a side trip for personal reasons).

How is work-relatedness determined for an employee who is working from home?

• Injury and illness that occur while an employee is working from home are considered work related if they are directly related to the performance of work and not the general home environment.

Injuries and illnesses that occur while an employee is working at home, including work in a home office, will be considered work related if the injury or illness occurs while the employee is performing work for pay or compensation in the home, and the injury or illness is directly related to the performance of work rather than to the general home environment or setting.

For example, if an employee drops a box of work documents and suffers a foot injury, the case is considered work related. If an employee’s fingernail is punctured by a needle from a sewing machine used to perform garment work at home, becomes infected and requires medical treatment, the injury is considered work related. If an employee is injured by tripping on the family dog while rushing to answer a work phone call, the case is not considered work related. If an employee working at home is electrocuted because of faulty home wiring, the injury is not considered work related.

How should an employer record a case that results in death?

• The OSHA 300 Log provides space to record injury or illness that results in death.

Employers must record an injury or illness that results in death by entering a check mark on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 300 Log in the space for cases resulting in death. Employers must also report any work-related fatality to OSHA within eight hours, as required by 1904.39.

How should an employer record a case that results in days away from work?

• The OSHA 300 Log provides space to record injury or illness that results in days away from work.

When an injury or illness involves one or more days away from work, employers must record the injury or illness on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 300 Log with a check mark in the space for cases involving days away and an entry of the number of calendar days away from work in the number of days column. If the employee will be out for an extended period, employers must enter an estimate of the days the employee will be away, and update the day count when the actual number of days is known.

Employers should start counting days away on the day after the injury occurred or the illness began. The day that the injury occurred is not counted.

What if a doctor assigns days away but the employee reports to work anyway?

Employers must record these injuries and illnesses on the OSHA 300 Log using the check box for cases with days away from work and enter the number of calendar days away recommended by the physician or other licensed healthcare professional. If a physician or other licensed healthcare professional recommends days away, employers should encourage employees to follow that recommendation. However, the days away must be recorded whether or not the injured or ill employee follows the physician or licensed healthcare professional’s recommendation. If employers receive recommendations from two or more physicians or other licensed healthcare professionals, they may decide which recommendation is the most authoritative, and record the case based upon that recommendation.

Similarly, if the employee decides to stay home beyond what is recommended, employers may end the count of days away from work on the date the physician or other licensed healthcare professional recommends that the employee return to work.

How should an employer count weekends, vacation days, or holidays when the employee was not scheduled to work?

Employers must count the number of calendar days the employee was unable to work as a result of the injury or illness, regardless of whether the employee was scheduled to work on those days. Weekend days, holidays, vacation days or other days off are included in the total number of days recorded if the employee would not have been able to work on those days because of a work-related injury or illness.

May an employer stop counting days away if the employee leaves the company for a reason other than the injury?

If the employee leaves the company for some reason unrelated to the injury or illness, such as retirement, a plant closing, or to take another job, an employer may stop counting days away from work or days of restriction/job transfer. If the employee leaves the company because of the injury or illness, employers must estimate the total number of days away or days of restriction/job transfer and enter the day count on the OSHA 300 Log.

Is there a cap to the day count?

Employers are not required to continue to keep track of the number of calendar days away from work if the injury or illness resulted in more than 180 calendar days away from work and/or days of job transfer or restriction. In such a case, entering 180 in the total days away column will be considered adequate.

What if a case begins in one year and carries over into the next year?

If a case occurs in one year but results in days away during the next calendar year, employers should record the injury or illness only once using the date the injury occurred, and log the number of calendar days away for the injury or illness on the OSHA 300 Log for the year in which the injury or illness occurred. If the employee is still away from work because of the injury or illness when it is time to prepare the annual summary, employers should estimate the total number of calendar days that the employee is expected to be away from work, use this number to calculate the total for the annual summary, and then update the initial log entry later when the day count is known or reaches the 180-day cap.

For example, it may happen that any employee gets injured in December and is still away from work (or on restrictions) in January of the following year. All days away or days of restriction must still be entered under the December entry. The purpose of counting days is to compare the severity of injuries (more days means more severe). Since only the total number of days is relevant for that purpose, it does not matter if those days continue into a new calendar year.

Employers must continue to update the OSHA 300 Log during the five-year retention period. However, they need not update the 301 Incident Report or 300A Summary. For example, if an employee injured in December finally returns to work in March (after the 300A is already posted), the employer should update the 300 Log with the day count. However, the employer does not need to update or re-post the 300A.

How should an employer count a case that results in a work restriction?

• Employers must record cases of injury or illness that restrict an employee from performing routine job functions.

When a physician or healthcare professional recommends restricted work, employers should record it only if it affects one or more of the employee’s routine job functions. To determine whether this is the case, employers should evaluate the restriction in light of the routine functions of the injured or ill employee’s job. If the restriction from the employer or the physician/healthcare professional keeps employees from performing one or more of their routine job functions, or from working the full workday the employee would otherwise have worked, the employee’s work has been restricted and the case must be recorded.

For recordkeeping purposes, an employee’s routine functions are those work activities the employee regularly performs at least once per week.

If an employee works only for a partial work shift because of a work-related injury or illness, it should be recorded as a day of job transfer or restriction, except for the day on which the injury occurred or the illness began.

If a physician/healthcare professional recommends vague restrictions, such as that the employee engage only in “light duty” or “take it easy for a week,” an employer should ask the physician/healthcare professional whether the employee can do all the routine job functions and work the entirety of a normally assigned work shift. If the answer to both questions is yes, then the case does not involve a work restriction and does not have to be recorded as such. However, if the answer to one or both questions is no, the case involves restricted work and must be recorded as a restricted work case. In cases where it is not possible to get clarification from the physician/healthcare professional who recommended the restriction, an employer should record the injury or illness as a case involving restricted work.

When a physician/healthcare professional recommends a job restriction meeting the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)’s definition, but the employee does all of the routine job functions anyway, employers still must record the injury or illness on the OSHA 300 Log as a restricted work case. If job restrictions are recommended, the employer must ensure that the employee complies with that restriction. If the employer receives recommendations from two or more physicians/healthcare professionals, the case should be recorded based on which recommendation is the most authoritative.

What if a case results in both days away from work and days of work restrictions?

The employer must check the box that reflects the most severe outcome associated with a given injury or illness. The severity of any case decreases on the log from column G (Death) to column J (Other recordable case). Since days away from work is a more severe outcome than restricted work, the employer is required to remove the check initially placed in the box for job transfer or restriction and enter a check in the box for days away from work (column H). Employers are allowed to cap the number of days away and/or restricted work/job transfer when a case involves 180 calendar days. For purposes of recordability, the employer would enter “180 days” in the “Job transfer or restriction” column and may also enter “1 day” in the “Days away from work” column to prevent confusion or computer-related problems.

What if a case results in a transfer to another job?

If an injured or ill employee is assigned to a job other than that employee’s regular job even for part of the day, the case involves transfer to another job. Both job transfer and restricted work cases are recorded in the same box on the OSHA 300 Log, starting from the day after the injury or illness occurred.

Days of job transfer or restriction are counted in the same way as days away from work. However, if an employer permanently assigns the injured or ill employee to a job that has been modified or permanently changed in a manner that eliminates the routine functions the employee was restricted from performing, the day count can stop when the modification or change is made permanent. In these cases, the employer should count at least one day of restricted work or job transfer.

What is medical treatment beyond first aid?

• Medical treatment beyond first aid is any treatment given for an injury or illness that is not specifically listed in the OSHA definition of “first aid.”

First aid and medical treatment criteria will probably be the criteria used most often when deciding whether a work-related injury must be recorded. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) list of first aid treatments is inclusive; an employer can look at it and without elaborate analysis, determine whether a treatment is first aid and thus not recordable. These treatments are considered first aid whether they are provided by a lay person, a physician, or a healthcare professional. Any treatment not on the first aid list is considered medical treatment and is recordable, even when it is provided by someone other than a physician or healthcare professional.

If a work-related injury or illness results in medical treatment beyond first aid, record it on the OSHA 300 Log. If the injury or illness does not involve death, one or more days away from work, one or more days of restricted work, or one or more days of job transfer, the employer should enter a check mark in the box for “Other recordable cases.”

For recordkeeping purposes, first aid means the following only:

• Using a non-prescription medication at non-prescription strength (for medications available in both prescription and non-prescription form, a recommendation by a physician or healthcare provider to use a non-prescription medication at prescription strength is considered medical treatment);
• Administering tetanus immunizations (other immunizations, such as hepatitis B vaccine or rabies vaccine, are considered medical treatment);
• Cleaning, flushing, or soaking wounds on the surface of the skin;
• Using wound coverings such as bandages, Band-Aids™, gauze pads, etc.; or using butterfly bandages or Steri-Strips™ (other wound closing devices such as sutures or staples are considered medical treatment);
• Using hot or cold therapy;
• Using any non-rigid means of support, such as elastic bandages, wraps, non-rigid back belts, etc. (devices with rigid stays or other systems designed to immobilize parts of the body are considered medical treatment);
• Using temporary immobilization devices while transporting an accident victim (splints, slings, neck collars, back boards, etc.);
• Drilling of a fingernail or toenail to relieve pressure, or draining fluid from a blister;
• Using eye patches;
• Removing foreign bodies from the eye using only irrigation or a cotton swab;
• Removing splinters or foreign material from areas other than the eye by irrigation, tweezers, cotton swabs or other simple means;
• Using finger guards;
• Using massages (physical therapy or chiropractic treatment are considered medical treatment for recordkeeping purposes); or
• Drinking fluids for relief of heat stress.

Is every work-related injury or illness that results in a loss of consciousness recordable?

• Any injury or illness that results in loss of consciousness is considered a recordable event.

Every work-related injury or illness case involving a complete loss of consciousness (not merely a sense of disorientation or other diminished level of awareness) is recordable, regardless of the length of time the employee remains unconscious. Fainting episodes involving voluntary activities such as vaccination programs or blood donations are not recordable. However, fainting episodes that result from mandatory medical procedures such as blood tests or physicals required by OSHA standards are considered work-related events and, as such, are recordable if they meet one or more of the recording criteria.

What is a significant diagnosed injury or illness?

• Certain significant injuries or illnesses must be recorded, even if medical treatment or work restrictions aren’t recommended at the time of diagnosis.

Significant diagnosed work-related injuries or illnesses are recordable under the general criteria, even if they do not result in death, days away from work, restricted work or job transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness. There are significant injuries, such as a punctured eardrum or a fractured toe or rib, for which neither medical treatment nor work restrictions may be recommended. In addition, there are some significant progressive diseases, such as byssinosis, silicosis, and some types of cancer, for which medical treatment or work restrictions may not be recommended at the time of diagnosis but are likely to be recommended as the disease progresses.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) believes that cancer, chronic irreversible diseases, fractured or cracked bones, and punctured eardrums are generally considered significant injuries and illnesses and must be recorded at the initial diagnosis, even if medical treatment or work restrictions are not recommended or are postponed in a particular case. The employer should record these “significant” cases within seven days of receiving a diagnosis from a physician or healthcare professional.