Everything employers need to know about the OSHA 300 log — who must keep one, what injuries are recordable, how to complete the 300/300A/301 forms, electronic submission requirements, and record retention rules.
OSHA's injury and illness recordkeeping system exists for one reason: to create an accurate, consistent record of work-related injuries and illnesses that employers, workers, and OSHA can use to identify hazards and track safety performance over time. The framework centers on three forms — the 300 Log, the 300A Annual Summary, and the 301 Incident Report — and it applies to most private sector employers in the United States. Getting recordkeeping right is not just a compliance obligation; it is the factual foundation of any credible safety program. Getting it wrong exposes employers to citations under 29 CFR Part 1904 and distorts the data that safety managers depend on to allocate resources and measure progress.
Employers with ten or more employees at any point during the previous calendar year must maintain OSHA injury and illness records unless their industry is classified as partially exempt. Partial exemptions apply to low-hazard industries listed in Appendix A to Subpart B of 29 CFR Part 1904. These include most retail, service, finance, insurance, and real estate industries with low historical injury rates. Employers in partially exempt industries are still required to report fatalities, in-patient hospitalizations, amputations, and losses of an eye to OSHA directly, even if they are not required to keep the 300 Log.
Employers with fewer than ten employees at all times during the previous calendar year are fully exempt from routine recordkeeping regardless of industry, but the same fatality and severe injury reporting obligations still apply. Multi-establishment employers must maintain separate 300 Logs for each physical location expected to be in operation for one year or more.
A work-related injury or illness must be recorded on the 300 Log if it meets any one of the following recordability criteria:
An injury or illness is work-related under 1904.5 when an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or significantly contributed to the condition, or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition. The work environment includes all locations where employees are working or are present as a condition of their employment.
Several categories of injuries and illnesses are explicitly excluded from recordability under 1904.5(b)(2) even if they occur at work. These include injuries resulting solely from a personal determination to commit a crime on the premises, injuries from events completely unrelated to work (such as a heart condition that happens to manifest at work), and conditions resulting from voluntary participation in wellness programs or recreational activities. Additionally, cases where the only treatment administered was first aid — as specifically defined in 1904.7(a) — are not recordable even if a physician provided that first aid. The regulatory definition of first aid covers non-prescription medications at non-prescription strength, tetanus shots, cleaning and bandaging wounds, use of non-rigid means of support, and a limited list of other interventions.
OSHA's recordkeeping system uses three distinct forms that serve different purposes and audiences:
Each row on the 300 Log captures identifying information and injury classification data across several columns. Columns A through F record the case number, employee name, job title, date of injury or illness onset, and a brief description of the injury and the object or substance that caused it. For privacy cases — described below — the employee name is omitted and "privacy case" is entered instead.
Columns G through J classify the outcome: death (G), days away from work (H), job transfer or restriction (I), or other recordable case with no lost time or restriction (J). Only one outcome column is checked per case; if a case involves days away and then restriction, mark only the days-away column. Columns K and L record the actual number of calendar days away from work and days of job transfer or restriction. These counts run until the employee returns to full duty or until the case is resolved, and continue to accrue even if the employee leaves the company.
Columns M1 through M6 classify the type of illness: injury (M1), skin disorder (M2), respiratory condition (M3), poisoning (M4), hearing loss (M5), or all other illnesses (M6). Each case receives exactly one classification in column M.
Under 1904.29(b)(6), certain sensitive cases must be treated as privacy cases: injuries to an intimate body part or the reproductive system, injuries resulting from a sexual assault, mental illness, HIV infection, hepatitis, tuberculosis, and needle-stick or sharps injuries involving blood or potentially infectious material. For these cases, the employee's name is omitted from the 300 Log but all other columns are completed normally. Employers must maintain a separate confidential list linking the case number to the employee's name. The 301 Incident Report for privacy cases must also have the employee's name removed before being disclosed to anyone other than OSHA.
At the end of each calendar year, the 300A Summary must be compiled from the year's 300 Log, totaling the entries in each column. If the establishment had zero recordable injuries or illnesses for the year, the 300A is still completed and posted with zeros. A company executive must certify the accuracy of the summary by signing it. The posting period is February 1 through April 30. The summary must be posted in a conspicuous place where notices to employees are customarily posted; it cannot simply be made available on request during this period — it must be physically posted.
OSHA's electronic submission rule under 29 CFR 1904.41 requires certain establishments to submit their 300A Summary data — and in some cases, 300 Log and 301 data — to OSHA's online Injury Tracking Application (ITA) annually. The submission deadline is March 2 each year for the prior calendar year's data.
The electronic submission requirements depend on establishment size and industry:
Establishments must submit through ITA at injurytracking.osha.gov. Failure to submit by the March 2 deadline can result in citations under 1904.41.
Employers must retain the 300 Log, the 300A Annual Summary, and the 301 Incident Reports for five years following the end of the calendar year they cover. During that five-year period, the records must be updated to reflect changes in the outcome of cases originally classified as restricted duty or days-away if the employee's status changes. Retained records must be made available to current and former employees, their personal representatives, and authorized employee representatives within four business hours of a request.
Employers may correct errors on the 300 Log at any time during the retention period. If a case was improperly recorded — for example, classified as a days-away case when no days away were actually taken — the entry should be corrected by drawing a single line through the incorrect information and entering the correct data. If a case was not recorded at all and should have been, it must be added. If OSHA discovers inaccurate records during an inspection, citations can be issued for each improperly recorded case under the recordkeeping standards in Part 1904.
Aaron West
Founder, EHS, Inc. — 18+ years in EHS compliance and contractor safety
Aaron West has spent over 18 years helping contractors and businesses navigate OSHA compliance, ISNetworld® certification, and workplace safety management. He founded EHS, Inc. to make enterprise-level EHS accessible to companies of all sizes — serving contractors and businesses nationwide — without long-term contracts or enterprise overhead.
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