Skip to content

Approaching: Nov 20, 2026 — HCS 2024 Deadline. Get ready →

29 CFR Part 1904Forms 300 · 300A · 301

OSHA Recordkeeping: the 300 Log, the 300A and the 301

Most employers with more than 10 employees must keep an OSHA 300 Log of work-related injuries and illnesses, complete a 301 incident report within 7 calendar days of each recordable case, post the 300A summary from February 1 to April 30 each year, and keep all three for 5 years. Severe events are reported separately and much faster: a fatality within 8 hours, an in-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye within 24 hours.

Verified against osha.gov · July 17, 2026

Is my case recordable? Build a 300A

At a glance

Who must keep records

Employers with more than 10 employees, unless the establishment is in a partially exempt low-hazard industry

1904.1 / 1904.2

What makes a case recordable

Work-related + a new case + death, days away, restricted work/transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, loss of consciousness, or a significant diagnosis

1904.4–1904.7

301 deadline

7 calendar days from learning of the case

1904.29(b)(3)

300A posting window

February 1 – April 30, certified by a company executive

1904.32(b)(3)–(6)

Electronic submission

By March 2 each year, for the covered tiers

1904.41

Retention

5 years after the covered calendar year — and the 300 Log must be kept up to date

1904.33
$16,550
Per serious violation
2026 maximum
1903.15(d)
$165,514
Per willful or repeated
2026 maximum
1903.15(d)
5-year
Record retention
300, 300A & 301
1904.33

Recordkeeping violations are cited as other-than-serious by default, but a missing or falsified log can support a willful characterization, and each unfiled form can be a separate citation. For scale, federal OSHA issued 26,559 construction citations totaling $109.0M across all standards in FY2025 (OSHA Frequently Cited Standards) — recordkeeping is not separately ranked in the Top 10.

Answer your own case

Three of the questions this page answers, made interactive — walk a real case through the recordability criteria, find your electronic-submission tier, or get the exact destroy-after date for a record. Each runs on the same engine as our full free tool.

1 · Work-relatedness

Was the injury or illness work-related?

An injury is work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment caused or contributed to it, or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition. There is a presumption of work-relatedness for events occurring in the work environment.

29 CFR 1904.5
29 CFR 1904.7(a) — the general recording criteria, verbatim
“You must consider an injury or illness to meet the general recording criteria, and therefore to be recordable, if it results in any of the following: death, days away from work, restricted work or transfer to another job, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness.”

The list is exhaustive: if a work-related case produces none of these outcomes, it is not recordable on that basis. A significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional is added at 1904.7(b)(7).

Is it a new case, or the same one continuing?

You record a case once. Under 29 CFR 1904.6, an injury or illness is a new case if the employee has never had a recorded case of the same type affecting the same part of the body, or had one but recovered completely and a new workplace event made it reappear. The recovery line is where employers get it wrong — a flare-up of a case that never fully resolved is the same case, not a new entry.

Chronic conditions — recorded once

Occupational cancer, asbestosis, silicosis and similar conditions can recur or continue without further workplace exposure, so they are entered a single time (1904.6(b)(1)).

Episodic conditions — a new case each time

Occupational asthma and the like are treated as a new case each time a workplace event triggers a recurrence (1904.6(b)(2)).

Recording is not reporting

The two words sound interchangeable and are not. Recording is the log you keep; reporting is the call you make to OSHA. They have different triggers, different clocks, and only one of them survives the small-employer exemption. Confusing them is how an employer with nine staff learns — after a fatality — that being exempt from the 300 Log never exempted them from the 8-hour phone call.

Recording (the log)Reporting (the call)
What it isAn internal log you keep on siteA phone call or online report to OSHA
TriggerAny case meeting 1904.7 criteriaOnly a fatality, in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye
Clock7 calendar days8 hours (fatality) / 24 hours (hospitalization, amputation, eye)
Applies if you are partially exempt?No — exempt employers need not keep the logYes — the exemption never covers 1904.39
Cite1904.4 / 1904.291904.39

Report a severe event: 1-800-321-OSHA (6742), the nearest area office, or the online form. Fatality within 8 hours; in-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye within 24 hours. 29 CFR 1904.39

Who must keep records

The size exemption

If your company had 10 or fewer employees at all times during the last calendar year, you do not need to keep OSHA injury and illness records. The count is company-wide peak employment during that year (1904.1(b)(2)), not per establishment.

Two traps live in that sentence. At all times means peak employment — one week at eleven people ends the exemption for the whole year. And the count is company-wide, not per jobsite: five crews of four are twenty employees, not four.

29 CFR 1904.1(a)(1)

The industry exemption

Establishments classified in certain low-hazard industries (Appendix A to Subpart B) are partially exempt from keeping records, regardless of company size.

Construction is not on that list. Neither is manufacturing. The exempt list is retail, finance, insurance and similar low-hazard classifications — if you build, you keep records.

29 CFR 1904.2

The exemption that isn't. A partially exempt employer must still report work-related fatalities, in-patient hospitalizations, amputations and losses of an eye to OSHA under 1904.39, and must still respond if OSHA or the BLS sends written notification to keep records under 1904.41 or 1904.42. 29 CFR 1904.1(a)(1), 1904.39, 1904.41–1904.42

The three forms, and what each is for

One case produces up to three artifacts: a 301 describing it, a line on the 300 tracking it, and a number in the 300A totalling it. They are filled at different moments and they answer to different deadlines.

Form 301

Injury and Illness Incident Report

One form per recordable case, with the detail of what happened.

Deadline: 7 calendar days from receiving information that a recordable case occurred

29 CFR 1904.29(b)(3)OSHA 301 Incident Form

Form 300

Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses

The running log: one line per case, classified by outcome and day counts.

Deadline: Kept current all year, and updated during the 5-year retention period as cases develop

29 CFR 1904.29 / 1904.33(b)(1)Recordability Decision Tree

Form 300A

Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses

The year's totals, certified and posted where employees can see it.

Deadline: Posted February 1 – April 30 of the following year

29 CFR 1904.32(b)(6)OSHA 300A Auto-Filler

Privacy-concern cases. For a privacy-concern case (an injury or illness to an intimate body part or the reproductive system, an injury or illness resulting from a sexual assault, a mental illness, HIV infection, hepatitis or tuberculosis, a needlestick injury or cut from a sharp object contaminated with another person's blood or other potentially infectious material, or any other illness if the employee voluntarily asks that their name not be entered) do not enter the employee's name on the OSHA 300 Log; keep a separate confidential list of case numbers and names (1904.29(b)(6)). The list is closed (1904.29(b)(8)): an injury is not a privacy case because the employee asks. 29 CFR 1904.29(b)(7)

The recordkeeping year, step by step

  1. Within 8 hours of a work-related death

    Report the fatality to OSHA

    Only if the death occurs within 30 days of the work-related incident. Call 1-800-321-OSHA, your OSHA Area Office, or report online.

    29 CFR 1904.39(a)(1), (b)(6)
  2. Within 24 hours of an in-patient hospitalization, amputation or eye loss

    Report the event to OSHA

    Only if it occurs within 24 hours of the work-related incident. Same three ways to report.

    29 CFR 1904.39(a)(2), (b)(6)
  3. Within 7 calendar days

    Record the case

    Decide recordability first (work-related, new case, meets a 1904.7 criterion), then enter the case on the 300 Log and complete a 301 — or an equivalent form that captures the same information.

    29 CFR 1904.29(b)(3)
  4. As the case develops

    Update day counts and classification

    Count calendar days away or restricted, including weekends and holidays, and stop at 180 days. If the outcome changes — say a case moves from restricted work to days away — reclassify the line.

    29 CFR 1904.7(b)(3), 1904.7(b)(3)(vii)
  5. February 1 – April 30

    Certify and post the 300A

    Total the log, have a qualifying company executive certify it, and post it where notices to employees are customarily posted. Post it even if there were zero recordable cases.

    29 CFR 1904.32(b)(3)–(6)
  6. By March 2

    Submit electronically if you are in a covered tier

    Submit through OSHA's Injury Tracking Application. Which forms you owe depends on your establishment size and industry — see the tiers below.

    29 CFR 1904.41(c)
  7. For 5 years

    Retain — and keep the 300 Log accurate

    Store the 300, 300A, 301 and any privacy-case list. The 300 Log must be updated during storage; the 300A and the 301s need not be.

    29 CFR 1904.33

Electronic submission: which tier are you in?

The 29 CFR 1904.41 (88 FR 47346, Jul 21 2023) rule replaced the old “250+ employees submit the 300A” framing with three tiers. The change that catches part of construction: Appendix B added a tier that submits the full 300 and 301 detail, not just the summary — and one construction code is in it: 2381, foundation, structure and building exterior contractors. The rest of construction — 236, 237, 2382, 2383, 2389 — is on the Appendix A list only, and owes the 300A alone.

EstablishmentMust submitCite
20–249 employees in an Appendix A (Subpart E) industry300A1904.41(a)(1)(i)
100+ employees in an Appendix B (Subpart E) high-hazard industry (construction: NAICS 2381 only)300, 301, 300A1904.41(a)(2)
250+ employees not in a partially-exempt (Subpart B App A) industry300A1904.41(a)(1)(ii)

All tiers are due by March 2 of the year after the covered year. 1904.41(c)

Retention: five years, and one of them keeps changing

5 years — Part 1904 records

Retain the OSHA 300 Log, the annual 300A summary, the privacy-case list, and the 301 forms for 5 years following the end of the calendar year the records cover.

The asymmetry people miss: the stored 300 Log must be updated when a new recordable case surfaces or a classification changes, while the 300A and the 301s do not have to be revised once filed.

29 CFR 1904.33

30 years — a different rule entirely

Part 1904 governs injury records for five years. Employee exposure monitoring and medical records answer to 29 CFR 1910.1020 and live for the duration of employment plus 30 years. A chemical exposure record from a 2026 jobsite outlives the 300 Log it may have originated beside by a quarter of a century.

The 30-year rule

Key facts

  • A company with 10 or fewer employees at all times during the last calendar year does not have to keep an OSHA 300 Log — but it must still report a work-related fatality within 8 hours.
  • First aid is not medical treatment: OSHA lists what counts as first aid at 1904.7(b)(5)(ii), and a case treated with only those measures is not recordable on that basis alone.
  • Day counts on the 300 Log are calendar days, not scheduled workdays — weekends and holidays count — and you may stop counting at 180 days.
  • The 300A must be posted from February 1 to April 30 even in a year with zero recordable cases.
  • Only four people can certify the 300A, and a safety manager is not automatically one of them (1904.32(b)(4)).
  • Appendix B lists exactly one construction code: 2381, Foundation, Structure and Building Exterior Contractors. Building construction (236), heavy and civil engineering (237) and the other specialty trades (2382, 2383, 2389) are not in Appendix B — those establishments owe the 300A under Appendix A, not the full 300 + 301 set. A NAICS 2381 establishment with 100+ employees submits Forms 300 and 301, not just the 300A.
  • A fatality is only reportable to OSHA if it occurs within 30 days of the work-related incident.

How Part 1904 got here

  1. Jan 19, 2001

    66 FR 5916 · effective Jan 1, 2002

    The comprehensive rewrite that produced today's 300/300A/301 forms, the recording criteria, and the partial-exemption list.

  2. Sep 18, 2014

    79 FR · FR Doc. 2014-21514 · effective Jan 1, 2015

    Updated the exemption list to NAICS and expanded severe-event reporting — the current 8-hour fatality / 24-hour hospitalization, amputation, and eye-loss duties in 1904.39.

  3. Jul 21, 2023

    88 FR 47346, Jul 21 2023 · effective Jan 1, 2024

    Expanded electronic submission: establishments with 100+ employees in an Appendix B high-hazard industry (in construction, NAICS 2381 only) now submit the full 300 and 301, not only the 300A.

State-Plan differences

OSHA-approved State Plans must be at least as effective as federal OSHA, and several are stricter on recordkeeping and reporting. The one that catches the most employers is California.

California (Cal/OSHA) — report far more than the feds

Under 8 CCR 342, an employer must report any serious injury or illness, or a death, to Cal/OSHA immediately — within 8 hours of learning of it (24 hours only if exigent circumstances are shown). Federal OSHA, by contrast, requires reporting only a fatality (8 hours) or an in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye (24 hours). A serious injury that would never be federally reportable can still be an 8-hour Cal/OSHA report.

If you operate in a State-Plan state, verify its reporting window and its definition of a serious injury — they are frequently broader and faster than the federal rule. See the state-plans directory.

Tools, guides and the standards themselves

Free tools

In-depth guides

The standards

Glossary

Related

OSHA recordkeeping FAQ

Who is exempt from OSHA recordkeeping?

Two exemptions exist and both are partial. First, If your company had 10 or fewer employees at all times during the last calendar year, you do not need to keep OSHA injury and illness records. The count is company-wide peak employment during that year (1904.1(b)(2)), not per establishment. Second, Establishments classified in certain low-hazard industries (Appendix A to Subpart B) are partially exempt from keeping records, regardless of company size. Neither exemption is a free pass: A partially exempt employer must still report work-related fatalities, in-patient hospitalizations, amputations and losses of an eye to OSHA under 1904.39, and must still respond if OSHA or the BLS sends written notification to keep records under 1904.41 or 1904.42.

What makes an injury OSHA recordable?

A case is recordable if it is work-related (1904.5), a new case (1904.6), and meets a general recording criterion (1904.7): death, days away from work, restricted work or transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, loss of consciousness, or a significant injury/illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional.

Is the OSHA 301 form required?

Yes, for every recordable case. Complete an OSHA 301 (or equivalent) within 7 calendar days of receiving information that a recordable work-related injury or illness has occurred. You may use an equivalent form — a workers' compensation or insurance report is acceptable if it captures the same information as the 301 — but the substitute must contain all the 301 fields, and it is due on the same 7-day clock (29 CFR 1904.29(b)(3)).

When must the OSHA 300A be posted?

Post the annual summary no later than February 1 of the year following the year covered by the records, and keep it posted until April 30. Post it even if you recorded no injuries that year — a zero summary still gets posted. A company executive must certify that they examined the OSHA 300 Log and reasonably believe the summary is correct and complete. Only four people qualify (1904.32(b)(4)): an owner (sole proprietorship/partnership only), an officer of the corporation, the highest-ranking company official working at the establishment, or that official's immediate supervisor.

How long do I have to keep OSHA 300 logs?

Retain the OSHA 300 Log, the annual 300A summary, the privacy-case list, and the 301 forms for 5 years following the end of the calendar year the records cover. There is an asymmetry worth knowing: you must update the stored 300 Log if you discover a new recordable case or a case's classification changes, but you are not required to update the 300A summary or the 301 forms once filed (29 CFR 1904.33).

Who has to submit injury data to OSHA electronically?

Three tiers, under 29 CFR 1904.41 (88 FR 47346, Jul 21 2023), effective 2024-01-01: 20–249 employees in an Appendix A (Subpart E) industry submits 300A; 100+ employees in an Appendix B (Subpart E) high-hazard industry (construction: NAICS 2381 only) submits 300, 301, 300A; 250+ employees not in a partially-exempt (Subpart B App A) industry submits 300A. All submissions are due by March 2 of the year after the covered year. Appendix B reaches construction: NAICS 2381 only, not the whole sector, so a 100-employee NAICS 2381 establishment owes Forms 300 and 301, not only the 300A.

How fast must I report a fatality to OSHA?

Report a work-related fatality to OSHA within 8 hours, and an in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye within 24 hours (29 CFR 1904.39). Call 1-800-321-OSHA, the nearest OSHA office, or report online. Report a fatality only if it occurs within 30 days of the work-related incident; report an in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye only if it occurs within 24 hours of the incident. The 8-hour and 24-hour clocks run from the death or event — or, if it was not immediately known, from the moment you learn of it (1904.39(b)(7)–(8)).

Does recording an injury mean admitting fault?

No. OSHA states that recording a case does not mean the employer or the employee was at fault, that an OSHA rule was violated, or that the employee is eligible for workers' compensation or any other benefit (29 CFR 1904.0, Note). Recordability and liability are separate questions decided under separate rules.

What are the penalties for OSHA recordkeeping violations?

Recordkeeping violations are cited like any other standard: up to $16,550 per serious violation and up to $165,514 per willful or repeated violation under 29 CFR 1903.15(d), at 2026 amounts. Failure to report a severe event under 1904.39 is commonly cited as other-than-serious, and a missing or falsified log can support a willful characterization.

Sources

Part 1904 requirements verified against osha.gov on July 17, 2026. General guidance, not legal advice. OSHA-approved State Plans may impose requirements at least as effective as the federal rule — verify your state's.

Get the Binder in Order Before the Inspector Arrives. Are You Ready?

OSHA does not give advance notice of inspections (29 CFR 1903.6). Get the binder in order before the opening conference, not during it.

Serious Violation

$16,550

per violation (max)

HazComFast Pro

$199/mo

10 jobsites, unlimited chemicals, unlimited workers

Use the free toolsView Pricing

New sign-ups are paused. The free tools below need no account, and customers can log in as usual.

Your account keeps working as usual. Cancel anytime.