OSHA's Recordkeeping Rules

All employers covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act are required to:

                          Report any workplace fatality to OSHA

                          Report the hospitalization of three or more workers to OSHA

Some employers are exempt from keeping records of injuries and illnesses:

                          Employers with 10 or fewer employees

                          Employers in a number of industries classified as low hazard sectors
(Certain industries in the retail, service, finance, insurance and real estate sectors are exempt. It is important to check the list of exempt industries)

EMPLOYER RECORDKEEPING REQUIREMENTS UNDER OSHA

                          What kinds of injuries and illnesses are they suffering?

                          In what departments or on what jobs are the most severe injuries/illnesses occurring?

                          Based on this information, what hazards should be priorities to eliminate or control?

We can find answers to these and other questions about work-related injuries and illnesses in their workplaces by getting and analyzing employer-kept injury and illness logs.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) requires many employers to prepare and maintain records of work-related injuries and illnesses for their facilities. Workers and/or union representatives have legal rights under the OSH Act, and under OSHA?s recordkeeping regulation, to see and obtain copies of these documents from their employer.

OSHA?s current recordkeeping rule, which can be found at 29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 1904, became effective January 1, 2002. This rule was issued on January 19, 2001 (as a revision of a prior recordkeeping rule) and was then modified several times. Under the rule, employers are required to record and keep work-related injury and illness information on an OSHA 300 Log.

This resource handout will:

RECORDKEEPING REQUIREMENTS

Which Employers Are Covered By The Rule? [1904.1 And 1904.2]

Employers covered by OSHA who have more than 10 employees in the entire company are required to keep records of injuries and illnesses. Employers in certain ?low hazard? industries such as service, offices and clinics of medical doctors, finance, insurance, real estate, and some retail industries are exempt from these recordkeeping requirements (see list of exempt industries.)

What Injuries/Illnesses Must the Employer Record? [1904.4 - 1904.12]

Employers must record all new cases of work-related fatalities, injuries, and illnesses if they involve:

                          death,

                          days away from work,

                          restricted work or transfer to another job,

                          medical treatment beyond first aid,

                          loss of consciousness, or

                          A significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional.

According to OSHA, the category of ?a significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional? includes only diagnosed cases of injuries/illnesses involving work-related cancer, chronic irreversible diseases such as silicosis, a fractured or cracked bone, and a punctured eardrum.

According to the rule, ?first aid? cases do not have to be recorded on the OSHA 300 Log.

The rule establishes criteria for recording: needle stick and sharps injury cases where objects are contaminated with another person?s blood or other potentially infectious material; tuberculosis cases; occupational hearing loss cases; and medical removal cases under OSHA standards.

Musculoskeletal disorder (MSDS) cases must be recorded even though the rule contains no definition of an MSD and there is not a specific place on the 300 Log to designate a case as an MSD.

The rule also identifies certain injuries and illnesses that, while they may occur at work, do not have to be recorded on the OSHA 300 Log. These include situations such as an injury that occurs as a result of an employee choking on a sandwich while at work; an injury/illness resulting from voluntary participation in a wellness program or recreational activity; and an injury caused by a motor vehicle accident in a company parking lot while the employee is commuting to or from work. The rule also clarifies what injuries and illnesses are recordable and non-recordable when they occur to workers who are on work-related travel assignments.

Forms Used For Recording Injuries and Illnesses [1904.29]

The following are the forms used to record work-related injuries and illnesses:

OSHA 300 Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses on which the employer must report injuries and illnesses;

Form 301, Injury and Illness Incident Report, on which the employer must record detailed information on how each injury or illness case occurred; and

Form 300-A, Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses for a calendar year, which the employer must post in the workplace annually.

Each recordable injury or illness case must be recorded on the OSHA 300 Log and the Form 301 Incident Report within seven (7) calendar days after the employer receives notice that the injury or illness occurred.

The OSHA 300 Log asks where the event (injury/illness) occurred and what was the object/substance that directly injured or made the worker ill.

The OSHA 300 Log requires employers to check one of 6 boxes to categorize the injury/illness. These 6 categories are:

1.       injury,

2.       skin disorder,

3.       respiratory condition,

4.       poisoning,

5.       hearing loss (added to the 300 Log on January 1, 2004), and

6.       All other illnesses.

Employers are required to record hearing loss with recording criteria of 10 decibels. As of January 1, 2004, a specific box is listed for ?hearing loss?. Prior to January 1, 2004, employers still had to report hearing loss and check the ?all other illnesses? box.

There is no specific box on the OSHA 300 Log to check for cases of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDS), and the rule does not include a specific definition of a MSD. However, employers must still report MSDS, include a description of the disorder in Column F, and check the one of the boxes (either ?injury? or ?all other illnesses?). MSDS include work-related injuries and illnesses involving muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments, joints and spinal discs. MSDS, like other workplace injuries/illnesses, must be recorded if an ?event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing injury or illness.?

For each case, employers must record the number of days involving job transfer or work restriction, as well as days away from work. Calendar days (rather than scheduled work days) are used for recording days away from work. If an injury or illness causes a worker to miss work, the employer must now record weekend days, holidays and other days that the worker might not have been scheduled to work. However, employers are not required to count days away from work or days of restricted work activity beyond 180 days.

Form 301, the Injury and Illness Incident Report, provides detailed information on each recorded case. It also requires employers to state the time the employee began work and the time of the event or incident. This information can be useful to a union that is tracking health and safety problems relating to extended work hours and/or mandatory overtime.

Summary Form 300-A includes total workplace injury/illness information for a calendar year and must be posted annually. It also contains information on the total hours worked by all employees during the year, which can be used to calculate injury and illness incidence rates.

Privacy and Recording Injuries and Illnesses [1904.29]

The rule prohibits the employer from entering an employee?s name on the OSHA 300 Log to protect the privacy of the injured or ill worker only in the following situations: where the injury or illness occurred to an intimate body part or the reproductive system; sexual assaults; mental illnesses; HIV infection, hepatitis, or tuberculosis; needle stick injuries and cuts from sharps where the objects are contaminated with another person?s blood; and other illnesses if the employee ?independently and voluntarily requests his or her name not be recorded?. In these privacy concern cases, a separate confidential list of employee names must be kept. Employers also have the right to use discretion in describing the sensitive nature of an injury where the worker?s identity would be known.

Which Employees Are Covered By The Recording Requirements? [1904.31]

The employer is required to record on the OSHA 300 Log the recordable injuries and illnesses for all employees on its payroll, including hourly, salaried, executive, part-time, seasonal, and migrant workers.
The employer must also record injuries and illnesses that occur to workers who are not on the employer?s payroll if the employer supervises these workers on a day-to-day basis, including employees of temporary help services, employee leasing services, personnel supply services, and contractors.

However, the recordkeeping rule does not require a ?site log? of all the injuries and illnesses on a job site. For example, on a construction site, contractors and sub-contractors record injuries and illnesses on their own individual logs, but there is no ?site? log of all injuries/illnesses occurring at that work site.

The Annual Summary [1904.32]

At the end of each calendar year, Form 300-A, a summary of the total recordable injuries and illnesses for that year, must be completed and certified by a company representative as ?true, accurate and complete.? Company representatives include the owner, officer of the corporation, highest ranking company official working at the establishment, or the immediate supervisor of that highest ranking establishment official. The annual summary must be posted in the workplace where notices to workers are usually posted. This summary of the previous year?s recordable injuries and illnesses is required to be posted for three months beginning on February 1 through April 30.

Keeping the Injury and Illness Records [1904.33]

The employer must save the OSHA 300 Log, Form 300-A Annual Summary, any privacy case list, and Form 301 Incident Report forms for five (5) years. The stored OSHA 300 Logs must be updated by the employer to include any newly discovered recordable injuries or illnesses.