OSHA Form 300: Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses

Within 7 calendar days after you receive information about a case, decide if the case is recordable under the OSHA recordkeeping requirements.

Determine whether the incident is a new case or a recurrence of an existing one.

Establish whether the case was work-related.

If the case is recordable, decide which form you will fill out as the injury and illness incident report.

You may use OSHA's 301: Injury and Illness Incident Report or an equivalent form.

Some state workers compensation, insurance, or other reports may be acceptable substitutes, as long as they provide the same information as the OSHA 301.

If you're not sure whether a case is recordable, call your local OSHA office for help.⁠^[1]

Record information about every work-related death and about every work-related injury or illness that involves loss of consciousness, restricted work activity or job transfer, days away from work, or medical treatment beyond first aid.

You must record any significant work-related injury or illness that is diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional.

You must record any work-related case involving cancer, chronic irreversible disease, a fractured or cracked bone, or a punctured eardrum.

You must record the following conditions when they are work-related: any needlestick injury or cut from a sharp object that is contaminated with another person's blood or other potentially infectious material; any case requiring an employee to be medically removed under the requirements of an OSHA health standard; tuberculosis infection as evidenced by a positive skin test or diagnosis by a physician or other licensed health care professional after exposure to a known case of active tuberculosis; an employee's hearing test (audiogram) reveals 1) that the employee has experienced a Standard Threshold Shift (STS) in hearing in one or both ears (averaged at 2000, 3000, and 4000 Hz) and 2) the employee's total hearing level is 25 decibels (dB) or more above audiometric zero (also averaged at 2000, 3000, and 4000 Hz) in the same ear(s) as the STS.

Record work-related injuries and illnesses that meet any of the specific recording criteria listed in 29 CFR Part 1904.8 through 1904.12.⁠^[1]

Use these definitions when you classify cases on the Log.

OSHA's recordkeeping regulation (see 29 CFR Part 1904) provides more information about the definitions below.

An injury or illness is considered work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment caused or contributed to the condition or significantly aggravated a preexisting condition.

Work-relatedness is presumed for injuries and illnesses resulting from events or exposures occurring in the workplace, unless an exception specifically applies.

The work environment includes the establishment and other locations where one or more employees are working or are present as a condition of their employment.

Medical treatment includes managing and caring for a patient for the purpose of combating disease or disorder.

The following are not considered medical treatments and are NOT recordable: visits to a doctor or health care professional solely for observation or counseling; diagnostic procedures, including administering prescription medications that are used solely for diagnostic purposes; and any procedure that can be labeled first aid.

If the incident required only the following types of treatment, consider it first aid.

Common mistake: Do NOT record the case if it involves only: using non-prescription medications at non-prescription strength; administering tetanus immunizations; cleaning, flushing, or soaking wounds on the skin surface; using wound coverings, such as bandages, BandAids™, gauze pads, etc., or using SteriStrips™ or butterfly bandages; using hot or cold therapy; using any totally non-rigid means of support, such as elastic bandages, wraps, non-rigid back belts, etc.; using temporary immobilization devices while transporting an accident victim (splints, slings, neck collars, or back boards); drilling a fingernail or toenail to relieve pressure, or draining fluids from blisters; using eye patches; using simple irrigation or a cotton swab to remove foreign bodies not embedded in or adhered to the eye; using irrigation, tweezers, cotton swab or other simple means to remove splinters or foreign material from areas other than the eye; using finger guards; using massages; drinking fluids to relieve heat stress.⁠^[1]

Complete the 5 steps for each case.

Feel free to use two lines for a single case if you need to.⁠^[1]

At the top of the Log, in the blank next to Year 20, write the last two of the year's number, and enter the Establishment name, the City and the State.⁠^[1]

Under Step 1, Identify the person, enter the Case no., the Employee's name and the Job title.

Identify the employee involved unless it is a privacy concern case as described below.⁠^[1]

Next, under Step 2, Describe the case (the Case no. is Step 1), enter the Date of injury or onset of illness, Where the event occurred, and a description: Describe injury or illness, parts of body affected, and object/substance that directly injured or made person ill.

Identify when and where the case occurred.

Also describe the case, as specifically as you can.⁠^[1]

Common mistake: Under Step 3, Classify the case, select only one circle based on the most serious outcome: Death (G), Days away from work (H), Job transfer or restriction (I) or Other recordable cases (J).

Classify the seriousness of the case by recording the most serious outcome associated with the case, with column G (Death) being the most serious and column J (Other recordable cases) being the least serious.⁠^[1]

Under Step 4, enter the number of days the injured or ill worker was Away from work and On job transfer or restriction.

Restricted work activity occurs when, as the result of a work-related injury or illness, an employer or health care professional keeps, or recommends keeping, an employee from doing the routine functions of his or her job or from working the full workday that the employee would have been scheduled to work before the injury or illness occurred.

Count the number of calendar days the employee was on restricted work activity or was away from work as a result of the recordable injury or illness.

Common mistake: Do not count the day on which the injury or illness occurred in this number.

Begin counting days from the day after the incident occurs.

If a single injury or illness involved both days away from work and days of restricted work activity, enter the total number of days for each.

You may stop counting days of restricted work activity or days away from work once the total of either or the combination of both reaches 180 days.⁠^[1]

Under Step 5, select one column: Injury, Skin disorder, Respiratory condition, Poisoning, Hearing loss or All other illnesses.

Identify whether the case is an injury or illness.

If the case is an injury, check the injury category.

If the case is an illness, check the appropriate illness category.

An injury is any wound or damage to the body resulting from an event in the work environment.

Sprain and strain injuries to muscles, joints, and connective tissues are classified as injuries when they result from a slip, trip, fall or other similar accidents.

Skin diseases or disorders are illnesses involving the worker's skin that are caused by work exposure to chemicals, plants, or other substances.

Respiratory conditions are illnesses associated with breathing hazardous biological agents, chemicals, dust, gases, vapors, or fumes at work.

Poisoning includes disorders evidenced by abnormal concentrations of toxic substances in blood, other tissues, other bodily fluids, or the breath that are caused by the ingestion or absorption of toxic substances into the body.

Noise-induced hearing loss is defined for recordkeeping purposes as a change in hearing threshold relative to the baseline audiogram of an average of 10 dB or more in either ear at 2000, 3000, and 4000 hertz, and the employee's total hearing level is 25 decibels (dB) or more above audiometric zero (also averaged at 2000, 3000, and 4000 hertz) in the same ear(s).

All other illnesses are all other occupational illnesses.⁠^[1]

Be sure to transfer these totals to the Summary page (Form 300A) before you post it.

Common mistake: You don't post the Log; you post only the Summary at the end of the year.

If you need additional copies of the Log, you may photocopy the printout or insert additional form pages in the PDF, and then use as many as you need.⁠^[1]

You must consider the following types of injuries or illnesses to be privacy concern cases: an injury or illness to an intimate body part or to the reproductive system, an injury or illness resulting from a sexual assault, a mental illness, a case of HIV infection, hepatitis, or tuberculosis, a needlestick injury or cut from a sharp object that is contaminated with blood or other potentially infectious material (see 29 CFR Part 1904.8 for definition), and other illnesses, if the employee independently and voluntarily requests that his or her name not be entered on the log.

Common mistake: You must not enter the employee's name on the OSHA 300 Log for these cases.

Instead, enter “privacy case” in the space normally used for the employee's name.

You must keep a separate, confidential list of the case numbers and employee names for the establishment's privacy concern cases so that you can update the cases and provide information to the government if asked to do so.

If you have 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, you may use discretion in describing the injury or illness on both the OSHA 300 and 301 forms.

You must enter enough information to identify the cause of the incident and the general severity of the injury or illness, but you do not need to include details of an intimate or private nature.⁠^[1]

Revise the log if the injury or illness progresses and the outcome is more serious than you originally recorded for the case.

Cross out, erase, or white-out the original entry if hard copy.

If using the PDF's fillable form feature, simply change your selections.

If using the PDF's fillable form feature, you can also clear the entire case entry from the log using the Reset button.⁠^[1]

If your company has more than one establishment or site, you must keep separate records for each physical location that is expected to remain in operation for one year or longer.⁠^[1]

The Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses (Form 300) is used to classify work-related injuries and illnesses and to note the extent and severity of each case. When an incident occurs, use the Log to record specific details about what happened and how it happened.⁠^[1]

The Summary, a separate form (Form 300A), shows the totals for the year in each category. Common mistake: You don't post the Log; you post only the Summary at the end of the year.⁠^[1]

Classify the seriousness of the case by recording the most serious outcome associated with the case, with column G (Death) being the most serious and column J (Other recordable cases) being the least serious.⁠^[1]

You must keep the Log and Summary for 5 years following the year to which they pertain.⁠^[1]

Many but not all employers must complete the OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping forms on an ongoing basis. Employers with 10 or fewer employees throughout the previous calendar year do not need to complete these forms. In addition to the small employer exemption, there is an exemption for establishments classified in certain industries. A complete list of exempt industries can be found on the OSHA web page at www.osha.gov/recordkeeping. Establishments normally exempt from keeping the OSHA forms must complete the forms if they are informed in writing to do so by the Bureau of Labor Statistics or OSHA. Employers in State Plan States should check with their State Plan to see if the exemptions apply. All employers, including those partially exempted by reason of company size or industry classification, must report to OSHA any workplace incident that results in a fatality, in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye.⁠^[1]

No notary is named anywhere on OSHA Form 300.

On the Summary (Form 300A), under Sign here, the Company executive signs.⁠^[1]

Within 7 calendar days after you receive information about a case, decide if the case is recordable under the OSHA recordkeeping requirements. You must post the Summary (Form 300A) only, not the Log, by February 1 of the year following the year covered by the form and keep it posted until April 30 of that year.⁠^[1]

Many employers are required to electronically submit information from their OSHA Forms to OSHA. To see if your establishment is required to submit the information, visit www.osha.gov/injuryreporting/index.html.⁠^[1]

The form does not say.

The form does not say.

On the Summary (Form 300A), the certification is: I certify that I have examined this document and that to the best of my knowledge the entries are true, accurate, and complete.⁠^[1]