OSHA Forms 300, 300A & 301: The Complete Recordkeeping Guide for 2026

Every employer covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act must understand OSHA's injury and illness recordkeeping requirements. Forms 300, 300A, and 301 form the backbone of workplace safety tracking — and getting them wrong can trigger citations of $16,550 per violation or more.

This guide breaks down each form, who must file, critical deadlines, and the electronic submission rules that expanded significantly for 2026.

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Why OSHA Recordkeeping Matters

OSHA recordkeeping isn't just bureaucracy. These records serve three critical purposes:

1. Hazard identification — Patterns in your 300 Log reveal recurring injuries that signal systemic hazards
2. Compliance verification — OSHA inspectors request your logs immediately during inspections
3. Employer protection — Accurate records are your defense against inflated penalty proposals

Employers who fail to maintain accurate records face citations under 29 CFR 1904, which is separate from — and in addition to — citations for the underlying hazard that caused the injury.

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Who Must Keep Records?

Most employers with 11 or more employees at any point during the previous calendar year must maintain OSHA injury and illness records. There are two exceptions:

Partial Exemptions

• Size exemption: Employers with 10 or fewer employees during the entire previous year are exempt
• Industry exemption: Certain low-hazard industries (listed in 29 CFR 1904 Subpart B, Appendix A) are partially exempt

No Exemptions Apply When

Even exempt employers must record and report:

• All work-related fatalities
• Any in-patient hospitalization
• Any amputation
• Any loss of an eye

Construction note: Construction (NAICS 23) is NOT on the partial exemption list. All construction employers with 11+ employees must maintain full recordkeeping.

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

What It Is

Form 300 is your running log of every recordable work-related injury and illness that occurs during the calendar year. Think of it as your safety "ledger."

What Gets Recorded

A case is recordable if it results in any of the following:

• Death
• Days away from work
• Restricted work activity or job transfer
• Medical treatment beyond first aid
• Loss of consciousness
• Significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician (e.g., cancer, chronic irreversible disease, fractured/cracked bone, punctured eardrum)

Key Columns on Form 300

Important Rules

• 7-day rule: You must record a case within 7 calendar days of learning it occurred (29 CFR 1904.29(b)(3))
• Privacy cases: Certain sensitive injuries (sexual assaults, HIV, mental illness, needle-sticks) get recorded with "Privacy Case" instead of the employee's name
• Updates required: You must update entries if the outcome changes (e.g., restricted duty becomes days away from work)

Filling Columns G–M Correctly

• Columns G–J (outcome): check one box for the case's most serious outcome — G death, H days away, I job transfer or restriction, J other recordable (treatment beyond first aid with immediate return to full duty).
• Columns K–L (days): enter the day counts — K for days away, L for days on job transfer or restriction. Count calendar days, not scheduled workdays; begin the day after the injury (1904.7(b)(3)(i)); and you may cap each case at 180 days (1904.7(b)(3)(vii)).
• Column M (type): check one type box — (M1) injury, or an illness category: (M2) skin disorder, (M3) respiratory condition, (M4) poisoning, (M5) hearing loss, or (M6) all other illnesses. Most construction cases are M1 injuries; the illness boxes capture exposure cases like dermatitis, silica-related lung disease, lead poisoning, or a recordable hearing shift.

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OSHA Form 301: Injury and Illness Incident Report

What It Is

Form 301 is the detailed incident report for each individual case recorded on the 300 Log. It captures the full story of what happened.

When to Complete It

Complete a Form 301 (or equivalent) within 7 calendar days of learning about a recordable injury or illness (29 CFR 1904.29(b)(3)).

Key Sections

The form captures:

• Employee information: Name, address, date of birth, hire date
• Physician/facility information: Who treated the employee and where
• Incident details: What happened, what the employee was doing, what object or substance was involved
• Outcome: What was the injury/illness, which body parts were affected

Equivalent Forms

You don't have to use OSHA's exact Form 301. You can substitute:

• Workers' compensation first report of injury (if it contains all required information)
• Your company's own incident report (if it contains equivalent data fields)
• Insurance carrier forms (if complete)

Pro tip: Many employers use their workers' comp first report of injury as a 301-equivalent, saving duplicate paperwork.

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OSHA Form 300A: Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses

What It Is

Form 300A is the annual summary — a one-page snapshot of your total injury and illness counts for the year, plus your establishment's average employment and total hours worked.

How to Complete It

At the end of each calendar year:

1. Total each column on your Form 300 Log
2. Transfer those totals to Form 300A
3. Calculate your average number of employees and total hours worked
4. Certify — A company executive must review, sign, and certify the accuracy

Who Must Certify

The certification must be signed by:

• A company owner
• An officer of the corporation
• The highest-ranking company official at the establishment
• That person's supervisor

Posting Requirement

• Post from February 1 through April 30 each year
• Must be displayed in a conspicuous location where notices to employees are normally posted
• Must be kept unaltered and undefaced during the posting period
• Even if you had zero injuries, you must still post a certified Form 300A

From the 300A to Your Incident Rate (TRIR & DART)

The totals you certify on the 300A feed the two rates you'll be asked for on prequalification portals and by insurers. Both use OSHA's incidence-rate formula — (cases × 200,000) ÷ total hours worked, where 200,000 represents 100 full-time employees' annual hours:

• TRIR counts every recordable case — 300 columns G + H + I + J.
• DART counts only days-away/restricted/transfer cases — columns H + I.

For worked examples, sourcing "hours worked," and benchmarking, see How to Calculate TRIR & DART from the 300 Log.

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Electronic Submission Requirements for 2026

OSHA's electronic recordkeeping rule (29 CFR 1904.41), as amended effective January 1, 2024, expanded the submission obligations significantly. The key change is the new 100+/Appendix B tier requiring the detailed case-level forms. Who must submit electronically:

Tier 1: Establishments with 100+ Employees in a Designated High-Hazard Industry

Establishments with 100 or more employees in an industry listed in Appendix B to Subpart E must electronically submit:

• ✅ Form 300 (Log)
• ✅ Form 301 (Incident Report)
• ✅ Form 300A (Summary)

From construction, only NAICS 2381 is in Appendix B. Appendix B to Subpart E lists one construction code: 2381, Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors. A 2381 establishment with 100+ employees submits Forms 300 and 301 as well as the 300A (1904.41(a)(2)). The rest of construction (NAICS 23) sits in Appendix A: at 20-249 employees it submits the 300A only (1904.41(a)(1)(i)), and any establishment with 250+ employees that must keep records submits its 300A (1904.41(a)(1)(ii)).

Tier 2: Establishments with 250+ Employees

Establishments with 250 or more employees (not otherwise partially exempt) must electronically submit:

• ✅ Form 300A (Summary only)
• ❌ Form 300 — not required electronically at this tier
• ❌ Form 301 — not required electronically at this tier

Tier 3: Establishments with 20–249 Employees in High-Hazard Industries

Must electronically submit:

• ✅ Form 300A (Summary only)
• ❌ Form 300 — not required electronically
• ❌ Form 301 — not required electronically

Appendix A high-hazard industries include construction, manufacturing, agriculture, and others listed in Appendix A to Subpart E.

How to Submit

All electronic submissions go through OSHA's Injury Tracking Application (ITA) — see OSHA's ITA page.

The annual deadline

March 2 — 29 CFR 1904.41(c) sets it: submit the required information “by March 2 of the year after the calendar year covered by the form(s).” The date itself does not move from year to year — only the data year does.

Important: OSHA publishes this data publicly. Establishment names, addresses, industry codes, and injury data are made available on OSHA's website for public access.

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Record Retention: The 5-Year Rule

Employers must retain Forms 300, 300A, and 301 for five years following the end of the calendar year they cover. During this retention period, you must:

• Update the Form 300 Log to reflect changes in previously recorded cases
• Keep records accessible to current and former employees, their representatives, and OSHA — when OSHA asks, the deadline is four business hours
• Transfer records if your business changes ownership

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Common Recordkeeping Mistakes

1. Not Recording "First Aid" Cases That Escalate

An injury initially treated with first aid may become recordable if the employee later needs prescription medication, restricted duty, or days off. You must update your log.

2. Misclassifying "Days Away" vs. "Restricted"

• Days away: The employee cannot work at all
• Restricted: The employee works but cannot perform all routine functions
• This distinction matters for your DART rate and 300A totals

3. Counting Days Incorrectly

• Don't count the day of the injury
• Do count weekends and holidays if the employee would not have been able to work
• Cap the count at 180 days — then check the box for continued absence
• Employee leaves mid-count? If the departure is unrelated to the case (retirement, plant closing, another job), you may stop counting at the departure date — 1904.7(b)(3)(viii). If it's because of the case, don't stop: the same paragraph requires an estimate of the total days away or restricted, entered on the Log (OSHA's FAQ 7-21: the number expected for that type of case). The day of injury still never counts, and the count stops at the departure: hurt March 1, gone March 10 (unrelated), count March 2 through March 9 = 8 days, not 9.

HazComFast applies that arithmetic server-side and refuses a termination date earlier than the injury date, so a departed employee's case can't quietly skew your 300 Log. Use the free toolsLog in.

4. Forgetting the Annual Summary

Even zero-injury establishments must certify and post Form 300A from February 1–April 30.

5. Failing to Update Records

The 300 Log is a living document. If a restricted-duty case becomes a lost-time case six months later, update it.

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How Recordkeeping Connects to HazCom

OSHA recordkeeping and HazCom compliance are deeply linked:

• Chemical exposure injuries recorded on Form 301 should reference the specific chemical and SDS
• Exposure incidents may trigger additional requirements under 29 CFR 1910.1020 (Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records)
• Pattern analysis of your 300 Log may reveal chemicals causing repeated injuries — a signal to upgrade controls, training, or PPE

With HazComFast, you can link SDS records directly to incident data, making it easy to identify which chemicals are driving your recordable injury rate.

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OSHA Penalties for Recordkeeping Violations

Recordkeeping violations are treated seriously:

Distinct recordkeeping deficiencies can be cited as separate items, but OSHA normally groups similar deficiencies under a single gravity-based penalty (Field Operations Manual, CPL 02-00-163 Ch. 6). Citing every entry on its own — the violation-by-violation, or egregious, procedure of CPL 02-00-080 — is a discretionary remedy reserved for willful or flagrant cases, and it cannot be proposed without the concurrence of the Assistant Secretary. Treat it as an escalation OSHA may choose, never as an automatic multiplier on your entry count.

Use our OSHA Fine Calculator to estimate your specific penalty exposure.

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Quick-Reference Recordkeeping Calendar (any year)

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Best Practices for Efficient Recordkeeping

1. Digitize your logs — Paper forms get lost. Use software or spreadsheets with version control
2. Train multiple people — Don't let recordkeeping knowledge live with one person
3. Integrate with incident reporting — Connect your 301 forms to your incident investigation process
4. Review monthly — Don't wait until year-end to calculate your summary
5. Use OSHA's forms — Download the latest versions from osha.gov/recordkeeping/forms
6. Connect to HazCom — Link chemical incidents to your SDS library with HazComFast

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Conclusion

OSHA Forms 300, 300A, and 301 are the foundation of workplace injury and illness tracking. With expanded electronic submission requirements in 2026, accurate recordkeeping has never been more important — or more visible.

The key takeaways:

• Record all qualifying cases within 7 days
• Post your 300A from February 1 through April 30
• Submit electronically by March 2 if your establishment qualifies
• Retain all records for 5 years
• Update entries as case outcomes change

Stay compliant, protect your workers, and use your data to drive real safety improvements.

The standard, tools & related reading

• The standard: Recordkeeping — 29 CFR 1904
• On the job: OSHA 300A Auto-Filler · OSHA Recordability Decision Tree · OSHA Fine Calculator
• Related guides: When Is an Injury Recordable? · 300A Posting vs Electronic Submission (2026) · ITA: Who Must Submit (2026) · 30-Year Record Retention (1910.1020)
• 2026 OSHA penalty schedule · penalties by state

Explore our compliance tools or get started with HazComFast to streamline your safety recordkeeping alongside your HazCom program.

The hub & related reading: OSHA recordkeeping — 300, 300A & 301 · When is an injury recordable? · Is a near miss recordable? · How long to keep each OSHA record · Who can see the 300 Log and the 301s

Sources & verification (verified 2026-07-17 against osha.gov): forms and recording duties per 29 CFR 1904.4, 1904.7, 1904.29, 1904.32 and 1904.33; ITA electronic-submission tiers per 1904.41 (88 FR 47254, eff. Jan 1 2024); penalty maximums per 29 CFR 1903.15(d). General guidance, not legal advice; OSHA State-Plan states may impose stricter requirements.