Report severe cases first
- Employee reports an injury or illnessSupervisor
For US employers under federal OSHA: decide if a case goes on the OSHA 300 log and if it must be reported to OSHA.
Rules are in 29 CFR Part 1904. States with their own OSHA-approved plan may have extra rules, so check yours.
- Get care for the employee and collect the factsSupervisor
Write down what happened, when, where, the body part, and what treatment was given and by whom.
- Did it cause a death, inpatient admission, amputation or loss of an eye?Safety
No report is needed for a motor vehicle accident on a public road outside a construction work zone, or on public transport. You may still need to record it.
- Death: go to step 4, Report the fatality to OSHA within 8 hours
- Hospital, amputation or eye: go to step 5, Report to OSHA within 24 hours
- None of these: go to step 6, Continue to the recordkeeping test
- Report the fatality to OSHA within 8 hoursSafety
The clock starts when you or your agent learn of it. Report only if the death happened within 30 days of the incident.
Call your OSHA Area Office or 1-800-321-6742 (1-800-321-OSHA), or use the online form at osha.gov.
Then go to step 7, Does your company have to keep OSHA injury records?
- Report to OSHA within 24 hoursSafety
Report if it happened within 24 hours of the incident. Inpatient means a formal admission to the in-patient service of a hospital or clinic for care or treatment. Emergency room treatment alone is not reportable.
Have ready the business name, the names of the employees affected, the location and time, a short description and a contact person.
Then go to step 7, Does your company have to keep OSHA injury records?
- Continue to the recordkeeping testSafety
- Does your company have to keep OSHA injury records?Safety
All covered employers must report the severe cases above, even when exempt from keeping records.
- 10 or fewer employees: go to step 8, Partially exempt by size. No log needed
- Exempt industry: go to step 9, Partially exempt by industry. No log needed
- Yes, we keep records: go to step 10, Check if the case is recordable
- Partially exempt by size. No log neededSafety
Applies if the whole company had 10 or fewer employees at all times last calendar year, unless OSHA or BLS tells you in writing to keep records.
- Partially exempt by industry. No log neededSafety
Industries are listed by NAICS code in Appendix A to Subpart B of Part 1904. Check your establishment's code there.
- Check if the case is recordableSafety
Is it work-related and new?
- Did an event or exposure in the work environment cause or worsen it?Safety
Work-relatedness is presumed for events or exposures in the work environment unless an exception applies.
- No: go to step 12, Not recordable. Not work-related
- Yes: go to step 13, Does a 1904.5 exception apply?
- Does a 1904.5 exception apply?Safety
Exceptions include: present as a member of the public; symptoms at work from a non-work cause; voluntary wellness or recreation; eating or drinking for personal use.
Also: personal tasks outside working hours; personal grooming, self-medication or self-harm; car crash in a company lot while commuting; common cold or flu.
Mental illness counts only if the employee gives a licensed health care professional's opinion that it is work-related.
- Yes: go to step 14, Not recordable. An exception applies
- No: go to step 15, Work-related
- Not recordable. An exception appliesSafety
- Is this a new case?Safety
It is new if the employee has no earlier recorded case of the same type on the same body part.
It is also new if they had fully recovered and a new work event or exposure brought the symptoms back.
- No: go to step 17, Update the existing log entry instead
- Yes: go to step 18, New case
- Update the existing log entry insteadSafety
If the description or outcome of a case changes, for example more days away or a new restriction, update the original entry instead of adding a second line.
- New caseSafety
Does it meet the recording criteria?
- Is it a special case?Safety
- Needlestick or sharps cut: go to step 20, Contaminated with another person's blood or OPIM?
- Hearing loss: go to step 21, STS and hearing level 25 dB or more?
- Tuberculosis: go to step 23, TB infection after work exposure to active TB?
- None of these: go to step 25, Check the general criteria
- Contaminated with another person's blood or OPIM?Safety
OPIM means other potentially infectious material, such as body fluids, tissues or lab cultures with HIV or hepatitis B.
Record these as privacy cases. Do not put the employee's name on the log.
- STS and hearing level 25 dB or more?Safety
STS (Standard Threshold Shift) is an average change of 10 dB or more at 2000, 3000 and 4000 Hz in either ear, against the baseline audiogram.
The hearing level in the same ear must also be 25 dB or more above audiometric zero, averaged at those frequencies.
- Not recordable as hearing lossSafety
- TB infection after work exposure to active TB?Safety
Count a TB infection that develops after workplace exposure to a known case of active TB.
You may line it out later if the household or public health exceptions in 1904.11 apply.
- Not recordable as TBSafety
- Check the general criteriaSafety
- Did it cause any of the general recording criteria?Safety
Death, days away from work, restricted work or job transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, loss of consciousness, or a significant diagnosed injury or illness.
- Death or loss of consciousness: go to step 27, Recordable
- Days away or restricted work: go to step 28, Recordable
- Medical treatment: go to step 29, Was it more than first aid?
- Significant diagnosis: go to step 32, Recordable
- None of these: go to step 33, Not recordable. Keep your notes
- RecordableSafety
Loss of consciousness counts for any length of time.
Then go to step 34, Enter it on the OSHA 300 log within 7 calendar days
- RecordableSafety
Count calendar days from the day after the injury. Restriction only on the day of the injury does not count.
Restricted work means the employee cannot do one or more routine job functions or work a full day as scheduled.
Then go to step 34, Enter it on the OSHA 300 log within 7 calendar days
- Was it more than first aid?Safety
First aid includes non-prescription medicine at non-prescription strength, tetanus shots, cleaning wounds, bandages, hot or cold therapy, and elastic wraps.
Also first aid: non-rigid supports, temporary splints for transport, drilling a nail or draining a blister, eye patches, and removing debris from the eye by irrigation or a swab.
Also first aid: removing splinters by simple means, finger guards, massage, and drinking fluids for heat stress. Diagnostic tests and X-rays alone are not treatment.
- More than first aid: go to step 30, Recordable
- First aid only: go to step 31, Not recordable. First aid only
- RecordableSafety
A doctor recommending prescription medicine, or non-prescription medicine at prescription strength, counts as medical treatment.
Then go to step 34, Enter it on the OSHA 300 log within 7 calendar days
- Not recordable. First aid onlySafety
First aid stays first aid even when a physician gives it.
- RecordableSafety
Cancer, chronic irreversible disease, a fractured or cracked bone, and a punctured eardrum must always be recorded.
Then go to step 34, Enter it on the OSHA 300 log within 7 calendar days
- Not recordable. Keep your notesSafety
Record it
- Enter it on the OSHA 300 log within 7 calendar daysSafety
Enter the case on the OSHA 300 log and complete the 301 incident report, or equivalent forms, within 7 calendar days of learning about it.
- Unsure how a rule applies?Safety
- Ask OSHA or a safety professional before the deadlineSafety
OSHA's recordkeeping pages and your OSHA Area Office can answer interpretation questions.
- Case is recorded on the OSHA 300 logSafety