OSHA Form 300: What It Means for Employers

What it means in practice

What the log is. OSHA's recordkeeping rule requires covered employers to use three forms, or equivalents, for recordable injuries and illnesses: Form 300, the Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses; Form 300A, the Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses; and Form 301, the Injury and Illness Incident Report (29 CFR 1904.29(a)). The log is the running list: one or two lines per case, with column totals carried to the 300A at year end. Every case on the log also needs its own OSHA Form 301 incident report, which holds the detail about what happened. The current federal log is labeled Form 300 (Rev. 04/2004), OMB no. 1218-0176, inside OSHA's forms package dated 06/10/2019. For the agency and the law behind these forms, see OSHA.

Who must keep it. Every employer covered by the OSH Act is covered by part 1904, but two partial exemptions remove many from routine recordkeeping. A company that had 10 or fewer employees at all times during the last calendar year does not keep the log, and size is measured by peak employment across the whole company, not per site (29 CFR 1904.1). An establishment in an industry listed in Appendix A to Subpart B is also exempt; examples include full-service restaurants (NAICS 7221), legal services (5411) and offices of physicians (6211). The industry test applies site by site, so one company can have an exempt office and a non-exempt warehouse (29 CFR 1904.2). Either exemption ends if OSHA or the Bureau of Labor Statistics asks in writing for records, and neither excuses the duty to report a fatality, in-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye (29 CFR 1904.39).

Whose injuries go on it. The log covers all employees on the payroll, whether labor, executive, hourly, salaried, part-time, seasonal or migrant. It also covers workers who are not on the payroll if the employer supervises them day to day, such as temporary or leased staff, coordinating with the staffing firm so each case is recorded once. A contractor's employee supervised by the contractor goes on the contractor's log. Owners and partners of a sole proprietorship or partnership are not employees for recordkeeping, and self-employed people are not covered (29 CFR 1904.31).

The three recording tests. A case goes on the log only if it is work-related, is a new case, and meets the general recording criteria or one of the specific criteria (29 CFR 1904.4). Work-relatedness is presumed for events or exposures in the work environment (29 CFR 1904.5). Listed exceptions include being present as a member of the public, voluntary wellness or fitness activities, eating or drinking for personal consumption, parking-lot commuting accidents, the common cold or flu, and mental illness unless the employee voluntarily provides a qualified professional's opinion that it is work-related. A case is new if the employee has not had a recorded injury or illness of the same type to the same body part, or had one, fully recovered, and a workplace event caused the symptoms to reappear (29 CFR 1904.6).

General recording criteria. A work-related case is recordable if it results in death, days away from work, restricted work or transfer to another job, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness. Cancer, chronic irreversible disease, a fractured or cracked bone, or a punctured eardrum must be recorded when diagnosed, even without treatment or time off (29 CFR 1904.7). First aid is a closed list, including non-prescription medication at non-prescription strength, tetanus shots, cleaning wounds, bandages and butterfly strips, hot or cold therapy, non-rigid supports and removing splinters by simple means. Anything beyond it, such as sutures or physical therapy, is medical treatment, whoever provides it.

Specific criteria. Some cases are recordable under their own rules: needlesticks and cuts from sharps contaminated with another person's blood or other potentially infectious material (29 CFR 1904.8); medical removal under an OSHA health standard such as lead or benzene (1904.9); a work-related Standard Threshold Shift in hearing, an average change of 10 dB or more at 2000, 3000 and 4000 Hz, where total hearing level is also 25 dB or more (1904.10); and tuberculosis infection after workplace exposure to a known active case (1904.11).

How the columns work. The top of the log takes the establishment name, city, state and year. Each case then has five steps. Step 1 identifies the person: case number (A), employee's name (B) and job title (C). Step 2 describes the case: date of injury or onset of illness (D), where the event occurred (E), and the injury or illness, body part affected and object or substance involved (F). Step 3 classifies the case by checking only one box for the most serious outcome: death (G), days away from work (H), job transfer or restriction (I), or other recordable case (J). Step 4 enters the number of days away (K) and days on transfer or restriction (L). Step 5 marks whether the case is an injury or one of five illness types in column M: skin disorder, respiratory condition, poisoning, hearing loss, or all other illnesses (forms package; 29 CFR 1904.29(b)(1)).

Counting days. Count calendar days, starting the day after the injury, and include weekends, holidays and other days off if the employee could not have worked them. The count may be capped at 180 days. If the employee is still out when the annual summary is prepared, estimate the total and update the entry later; a case that runs into the next year is recorded only once, on the log for the year the injury occurred (29 CFR 1904.7(b)(3)). Restricted work means the employee cannot perform one or more routine functions, meaning tasks done at least once a week, or cannot work the full scheduled workday. A restriction that applies only to the day of injury is not counted (29 CFR 1904.7(b)(4)).

Privacy concern cases. For an injury to an intimate body part or the reproductive system, an injury from sexual assault, a mental illness, HIV infection, hepatitis or tuberculosis, a contaminated needlestick or sharps injury, or another illness where the employee voluntarily asks, the employer writes "privacy case" instead of the name. A separate confidential list links case numbers to names, and the description can stay general, such as "injury from assault." No other case types qualify (29 CFR 1904.29(b)(6)-(9)).

Where the log is kept. Short-term establishments (under a year) can share one log, and records may be kept at headquarters if case information reaches it within 7 calendar days. Each employee, including someone who telecommutes, is linked to one establishment; an injury at another of the employer's sites goes on that site's log (29 CFR 1904.30, 1904.46). The log may be kept on a computer if it can produce equivalent forms when needed (29 CFR 1904.29(b)(5)), and OSHA's forms page says equivalent forms may be kept in any file format, such as Excel or CSV.

Year-end summary and electronic submission. At the end of each calendar year, the employer reviews the log for completeness, totals its columns (entering zeros if there were no cases) onto Form 300A, has a company executive certify the summary, and posts the summary, not the log (29 CFR 1904.32). For posting and certification dates, see the document tracking page linked below. Separately, an establishment that had 100 or more employees at any time in the previous year and is in an industry listed in Appendix B to Subpart E, such as warehousing and storage (NAICS 4931), general hospitals (6221) or motor vehicle manufacturing (3361), must electronically submit its Form 300 and 301 data once a year, along with its 300A data. Employee names in column B are left out of that submission, and the establishment's EIN is included. Part-time, seasonal and temporary workers count toward the threshold, and the rule applies in State Plan states (29 CFR 1904.41).

Retention, updates and ownership changes. The log, privacy case list, annual summary and 301 forms are kept for 5 years after the end of the year they cover. During that time the log must be updated for newly discovered cases and changes in classification, by lining out the old entry and entering the new information; the summary and 301s do not have to be updated (29 CFR 1904.33). A new owner keeps the prior owner's records but need not correct them (29 CFR 1904.34).

Who can see it. Employees, former employees, their personal representatives and authorized employee representatives can get a copy of the log for an establishment where the employee worked by the end of the next business day. Names stay on, except for privacy cases, and the first copy is free (29 CFR 1904.35(b)(2)). Inspectors from OSHA, NIOSH or a State Plan agency get records within 4 business hours (29 CFR 1904.40). Others get the forms only with identifying details removed, except a hired safety auditor, a workers' compensation or insurance claim, or certain public health and law enforcement uses (29 CFR 1904.29(b)(10)).

What an entry does not mean. Recording a case does not mean the employer or employee was at fault, that an OSHA rule was violated, or that the employee is eligible for workers' compensation (29 CFR 1904.0). Employers must tell employees how to report injuries and that they have a right to report, and may not discharge or discriminate against anyone for reporting (29 CFR 1904.35(b)(1), 1904.36). See retaliation.

Penalties. Recordkeeping failures are cited under the OSH Act's civil penalty scheme. For 2026, the maximums are $16,550 per serious or other-than-serious violation and $165,514 per willful or repeated violation (29 CFR 1903.15(d)); the Department of Labor cancelled the 2026 adjustment because October 2025 inflation data were not published during the funding lapse (91 FR 31358). Knowingly making a false statement in a required record is a crime punishable by a fine of up to $10,000, up to six months in prison, or both (29 U.S.C. 666(g)).

Where states differ. States with OSHA-approved State Plans must use recording criteria that are the same as federal OSHA's, but may set stricter or supplemental rules on matters such as industry exemptions and retention, with OSHA approval (29 CFR 1904.37). For example, California uses its own Cal/OSHA Form 300 (8 CCR 14300.29), and its industry exemption list matches the federal one except that establishments in motion picture and video industries (NAICS 5121) must keep records in California but not under federal law (8 CCR 14300.2). Other states differ; check the State Plan for each location.

Worked example 1: a cut. A warehouse worker cuts a hand on a strapping band and gets four stitches at a clinic, then finishes the shift. Stitches are medical treatment beyond first aid, so the case is recordable. The employer checks column J (other recordable case), marks it as an injury, and enters it on the log and a Form 301 within 7 calendar days.

Worked example 2: days away, then restriction. An employee sprains a knee on Wednesday. The doctor says to stay home through Sunday, then avoid kneeling, a daily task, Monday through Wednesday. Days away start Thursday: Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday make 4, entered in column K. The three restricted days go in column L. Only column H (days away) is checked, because it is the more serious outcome.

Worked example 3: an incidence rate. OSHA's forms package gives the formula: cases x 200,000 / hours worked. An establishment with 3 recordable cases and 150,000 hours worked has a rate of 3 x 200,000 / 150,000 = 4.0 cases per 100 full-time workers.

FAQ: Do we post the log? No. OSHA's instructions say the employer posts only the summary, not the log.

FAQ: Can we use an insurance or software form instead? Yes, if it is an equivalent form with the same information, equally readable, completed using the same instructions (29 CFR 1904.29(b)(4)).

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