29 CFR Part 1904 Recordkeeping and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses

OSHA

Forms for Recording

Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses

What’s Inside…
In this package, you’ll find everything you need to complete
OSHA’s Log and the Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses
for the next several years. On the following pages, you’ll find:
t

Dear Employer:
Text will be inserted to reflect the requirements of the final rule.
t

—
General instructions for filling out the forms in this package
and definitions of terms you should use when you classify
your cases as injuries or illnesses.
An Overview: Recording Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses

How to Fill Out the Log

— An example to guide you in filling

out the Log properly.
t

Log of Work-Related Injuries and

U.S. Department of Labor

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Illnesses — Several pages of the Log
(but you may make as many copies of
the Log as you need.) Notice that the
Log is separate from the Summary.

t

Summary of Work-Related Injuries and

— Removable Summary pages
for easy posting at the end of the year.
Note that you post the Summary only,
not the Log.
Illnesses

Occupational Safety and Health Administration
U.S. Department of Labor

t

Worksheet to Help You Fill Out the Summary — A worksheet for
figuring the average number of employees who worked for
your establishment and the total number of hours worked.

t

OSHA’s 301: Injury and Illness Incident

— A copy of the OSHA 301 to
provide details about the incident. You
may make as many copies as you need or
use an equivalent form.
Report

Take a few minutes to review this package. If you have any
questions, visit us online at www.osha. gov or call your local OSHA office.
We’ll be happy to help you.

An Overview:
Recording Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses

U.S. Department of Labor

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

The Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970 requires certain employers to prepare and maintain records of work-related injuries and illnesses. 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.

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.
The Summary — a separate form (Form 300A)
— shows the totals for the year in each
category. At the end of the year, post the
Summary in a visible location so that your
employees are aware of the injuries and
illnesses occurring in their workplace.
Employers must keep a Log for each
establishment or site. If you have more than
one establishment, you must keep a separate
Log and Summary for each physical location that
is expected to be in operation for one year or
longer.
Note that your employees have the right to
review your injury and illness records. For
more information, see 29 Code of Federal
Regulations Part 1904.35, Employee Involvement.
Cases listed on the Log of Work-Related
Injuries and Illnesses are not necessarily eligible
for workers’ compensation or other insurance
benefits. Listing a case on the Log does not
mean that the employer or worker was at fault
or that an OSHA standard was violated.
When is an injury or illness considered
work-related?
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. See 29 CFR Part 1904.5(b)(2) for the
exceptions. 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.
See 29 CFR Part 1904.5(b)(1).
Which work-related injuries and
illnesses should you record?
Record those work-related injuries and
illnesses that result in:
t death,
t loss of consciousness,
t days away from work,
t restricted work activity or job transfer, or
t medical treatment beyond first aid.
You must also record work-related injuries
and illnesses that are significant (as defined
below) or meet any of the additional criteria
listed below.
You must record any significant workrelated 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. See 29 CFR 1904.7.

What are the additional criteria?
You must record the following conditions when
they are work-related:
t any needlestick injury or cut from a sharp
object that is contaminated with another
person’s blood or other potentially
infectious material;
t any case requiring an employee to be
medically removed under the requirements
of an OSHA health standard;
t 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.
t 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.

What do you need to do?
1. Within 7 calendar days after you

receive information about a case,
decide if the case is recordable under
the OSHA recordkeeping
requirements.
2. Determine whether the incident is a

new case or a recurrence of an existing
one.
3. Establish whether the case was work-

related.
4. 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.
How to work with the Log
1. Identify the employee involved unless

it is a privacy concern case as described
below.
2. Identify when and where the case

occurred.
3. Describe the case, as specifically as you

What is medical treatment?

can.
4. Classify the seriousness of the case by

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:
t visits to a doctor or health care professional
solely for observation or counseling;

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.
5. 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.

t diagnostic procedures, including
administering prescription medications that
are used solely for diagnostic purposes; and
t any procedure that can be labeled first aid.
(See below for more information about first aid.)

What is first aid?
If the incident required only the following types
of treatment, consider it first aid. Do NOT
record the case if it involves only:
t using non-prescription medications at nonprescription strength;
t administering tetanus immunizations;

U.S. Department of Labor

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

t cleaning, flushing, or soaking wounds on the
skin surface;

t using finger guards;
t using massages;
t drinking fluids to relieve heat stress
How do you decide if the case involved
restricted work?
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.

t using wound coverings, such as bandages,
BandAids™, gauze pads, etc., or using
SteriStrips™ or butterfly bandages.

How do you count the number of days
of restricted work activity or the
number of days away from work?

t using hot or cold therapy;

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. 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.

t using any totally non-rigid means of support,
such as elastic bandages, wraps, non-rigid
back belts, etc.;
t using temporary immobilization devices
while transporting an accident victim
(splints, slings, neck collars, or back boards).
t drilling a fingernail or toenail to relieve
pressure, or draining fluids from blisters;
t using eye patches;
t using simple irrigation or a cotton swab to
remove foreign bodies not embedded in or
adhered to the eye;
t using irrigation, tweezers, cotton swab or
other simple means to remove splinters or
foreign material from areas other than the
eye;

Under what circumstances should you
NOT enter the employee’s name on the
OSHA Form 300?

the injury or illness, but you do not need to
include details of an intimate or private nature.

You must consider the following types of
injuries or illnesses to be privacy concern cases:
t an injury or illness to an intimate body part
or to the reproductive system,
t an injury or illness resulting from a sexual
assault,
t a mental illness,
t a case of HIV infection, hepatitis, or
tuberculosis,
t 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
t other illnesses, if the employee
independently and voluntarily requests that
his or her name not be entered on the log.
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

What if the outcome changes after you
record the case?
If the outcome or extent of an injury or illness
changes after you have recorded the case,
simply draw a line through the original entry or,
if you wish, delete or white-out the original
entry. Then write the new entry where it
belongs. Remember, you need to record the
most serious outcome for each case.

Classifying injuries
An injury is any wound or damage to the body
resulting from an event in the work
environment.
Examples: Cut, puncture, laceration,
abrasion, fracture, bruise, contusion, chipped
tooth, amputation, insect bite, electrocution, or
a thermal, chemical, electrical, or radiation
burn. 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.

Classifying Illnesses
Skin diseases or disorders

Skin diseases or disorders are illnesses involving
the worker’s skin that are caused by work
exposure to chemicals, plants, or other
substances.
Examples: Contact dermatitis, eczema, or
rash caused by primary irritants and sensitizers
or poisonous plants; oil acne; friction blisters,
chrome ulcers; inflammation of the skin.

U.S. Department of Labor

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Respiratory conditions

Respiratory conditions are illnesses associated
with breathing hazardous biological agents,
chemicals, dust, gases, vapors, or fumes at work.
Examples: Silicosis, asbestosis, pneumonitis,
pharyngitis, rhinitis or acute congestion;
farmer’s lung, beryllium disease, tuberculosis,
occupational asthma, reactive airways
dysfunction syndrome (RADS), chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),
hypersensitivity pneumonitis, toxic inhalation
injury, such as metal fume fever, chronic
obstructive bronchitis, and other
pneumoconioses.
Poisoning

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.
Examples: Poisoning by lead, mercury,
cadmium, arsenic, or other metals; poisoning by

carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, or other
gases; poisoning by benzene, benzol, carbon
tetrachloride, or other organic solvents;
poisoning by insecticide sprays, such as
parathion or lead arsenate; poisoning by other
chemicals, such as formaldehyde.
Hearing loss

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).
Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD illnesses)

A musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) is a disorder
of the muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments,
joints, cartilage, or spinal discs. MSDs DO NOT
include disorders caused by a slip, trip, motor
vehicle accident, fall, or other similar accidents.
Examples: Carpal tunnel syndrome,
epicondylitis, rotator cuff syndrome, tendinitis,
De Quervains’ disease, Raynaud’s phenomenon,
trigger finger, carpet layers knee, tarsal tunnel
syndrome, herniated spinal disc, sciatica, and
low back pain.

All other illnesses

All other occupational illnesses.
Examples: Heatstroke, sunstroke, heat
exhaustion, heat stress and other effects of
environmental heat; freezing, frostbite, and
other effects of exposure to low temperatures;
decompression sickness; effects of ionizing
radiation (isotopes, x-rays, radium); effects of
nonionizing radiation (welding flash, ultra-violet
rays, lasers); anthrax; bloodborne pathogenic
diseases, such as AIDS, HIV, hepatitis B or
hepatitis C; brucellosis; malignant or benign

tumors; histoplasmosis; coccidioidomycosis.

When must you post the Summary?
You must post the Summary 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.

How long must you keep the Log
and Summary on file?
You must keep the Log and Summary for
5 years following the year to which they
pertain.

Do you have to send these forms to
OSHA at the end of the year?
No. You do not have to send the completed
forms to OSHA unless specifically asked to
do so.

How can we help you?
If you have a question about how to fill out
the Log,

o

visit us online at www.osha.gov or

o

call your local OSHA office.

Optional

Calculating Injury and Illness Incidence Rates

U.S. Department of Labor

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

What is an incidence rate?
An incidence rate is the number of recordable
injuries and illnesses occurring among a given
number of full-time workers (usually 100 fulltime workers) over a given period of time
(usually one year). To evaluate your firm’s
injury and illness experience over time or to
compare your firm’s experience with that of
your industry as a whole, you need to compute
your incidence rate. Because a specific number
of workers and a specific period of time are
involved, these rates can help you identify
problems in your workplace and/or progress
you may have made in preventing workrelated injuries and illnesses.
How do you calculate an incidence
rate?
You can compute an occupational injury and
illness incidence rate for all recordable cases or
for cases that involved days away from work for
your firm quickly and easily. The formula
requires that you follow instructions in
paragraph (a) below for the total recordable
cases or those in paragraph (b) for cases that
involved days away from work, and for both
rates the instructions in paragraph (c).
(a) To find out the total number of recordable
injuries and illnesses that occurred during the year,
count the number of line entries on your
OSHA Form 300, or refer to the OSHA Form
300A and sum the entries for columns (G), (H),
(I), and (J).
(b) To find out the number of injuries and
illnesses that involved days away from work, count
the number of line entries on your OSHA
Form 300 that received a check mark in
column (H), or refer to the entry for column

(H) on the OSHA Form 300A.
(c) The number of hours all employees actually
worked during the year. Refer to OSHA Form
300A and optional worksheet to calculate this
number.
You can compute the incidence rate for all
recordable cases of injuries and illnesses using
the following formula:
Total number of injuries and illnesses X 200,000 ÷
Number of hours worked by all employees = Total
recordable case rate
(The 200,000 figure in the formula represents
the number of hours 100 employees working
40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year would
work, and provides the standard base for
calculating incidence rates.)
You can compute the incidence rate for
recordable cases involving days away from
work, days of restricted work activity or job
transfer (DART) using the following formula:

various classifications (e.g., by industry, by
employer size, etc.). You can obtain these
published data at www.bls.gov/iif or by calling a
BLS Regional Office.

Worksheet

Number of
hours worked
by all employees

Total number of
injuries and illnesses

X 200,000

Total recordable
case rate

=

(Number of entries in column H + Number of
entries in column I) X 200,000 ÷ Number of hours
worked by all employees = DART incidence rate
You can use the same formula to calculate
incidence rates for other variables such as cases
involving restricted work activity (column (I)
on Form 300A), cases involving skin disorders
(column (M-2) on Form 300A), etc. Just
substitute the appropriate total for these cases,
from Form 300A, into the formula in place of
the total number of injuries and illnesses.
What can I compare my incidence
rate to?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) conducts
a survey of occupational injuries and illnesses
each year and publishes incidence rate data by

Number of
hours worked
by all employees

Number of entries in
Column H + Column I

X 200,000

DART incidence
rate

=

How to Fill Out the Log

U.S. Department of Labor

Form approved OMB no. 1218-0176

(F)
Describe injury or illness, parts of body affected,
and object/substance that directly injured
or made person ill

CHECK ONLY ONE box for each case
based on the most serious outcome for
that case:

Remained at Work
Death

We have given you several copies of the
Log in this package. If you need more than
we provided, you may photocopy and use as
many as you need.
The Summary — a separate form —
shows the work-related injury and illness
totals for the year in each category. At the
end of the year, count the number of
incidents in each category and transfer the
totals from the Log to the Summary. Then
post the Summary in a visible location so that
your employees are aware of injuries and
illnesses occurring in their workplace.

(G)

You don’t post the Log. You post only
the Summary at the end of the year.
Be as specific as possible. You
can use two lines if you need
more room.

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.

Days away Job transfer
from work or restriction

(H)

(I)

Other recordable cases

(J)

Enter the number of
days the injured or
ill worker was:

Away
from
work

(K)

On job
transfer or
restriction

(L)

Check the “Injury” column or
choose one type of illness:

(M)

(1)

(2)

(3)

Musculoskeletal
disorders

(E)

All other

(D)

Poisoning

(C)

MA

Hearing loss

(B)

Anywhere

Skin disorders

(A)

XYZ Company

Respiratory
conditions

R

You must 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 also record significant work-related injuries and illnesses that are diagnosed by a physician or licensed health
care professional. You must also record work-related injuries and illnesses that meet any of the specific recording criteria listed in 29 CFR Part 1904.8 through 1904.12. Feel free to
use two lines for a single case if you need to. You must complete an Injury and Illness Incident Report (OSHA Form 301) or equivalent form for each injury or illness recorded on this
form. If you’re not sure whether a case is recordable, call your local OSHA office for help.

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

}

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

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.

Attention: This form contains information relating to
employee health and must be used in a manner that
protects the confidentiality of employees to the extent
possible while the information is being used for
occupational safety and health purposes.

(Rev. 01/2011. Previous versions are not to be used.)

Injury

The Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses 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.

Choose ONLY ONE of these
categories. Classify the case
by recording the most
serious outcome of the case,
with column G (Death) being
the most serious and column
J (Other recordable cases)
being the least serious.

Note whether the
case involves an
injury or an illness.