OSHA 300 Log: Do It Right The First Time

The OSHA 300 log is a record-keeping tool that is used by many employers in the United States to track workplace injuries and illnesses. It is required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a federal agency that sets and enforces safety and health standards in the workplace.

The purpose of the OSHA 300 log is to help employers identify patterns and trends in workplace injuries and illnesses, so that they can take steps to prevent future incidents. It also serves as a way for employers to keep track of the types of injuries and illnesses that are occurring in their workplaces, and to track the actions that they are taking to address these issues.

To use the OSHA 300 log, employers must record any work-related injury or illness that results in one or more of the following:

Death
Days away from work
Restricted work or transfer to another job
Medical treatment beyond first aid
Loss of consciousness

Employers must also record a significant work-related injury or illness that is diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional, even if it does not result in any of the outcomes above (29 CFR 1904.7(a)).

The OSHA 300 log has one line for each recordable case. Employers enter information about their business at the top of the log, then a one or two line description of each recordable injury or illness (29 CFR 1904.29(b)(1)). Each line of the log covers:

A case number
The employee's name and job title
The date of the injury or onset of illness
Where the event occurred
A description of the injury or illness, the part of the body affected, and the object or substance that directly injured or made the person ill
How the case is classified: death, days away from work, job transfer or restriction, or other recordable case
The number of days away from work and the number of days on job transfer or restriction
Whether the case is an injury or one of the listed types of illness

More detail about each case goes on the OSHA 301 Incident Report, which must be completed for each recordable injury or illness entered on the log (29 CFR 1904.29(b)(2)). Each case must be entered on both forms within seven calendar days of receiving information that a recordable injury or illness has occurred (29 CFR 1904.29(b)(3)).

Employers must save the OSHA 300 log, the privacy case list (if one exists), the annual summary, and the OSHA 301 Incident Report forms for five years following the end of the calendar year that the records cover (29 CFR 1904.33(a)), and must make them available for review by OSHA inspectors upon request.

Some employers must also send injury and illness data to OSHA electronically each year. OSHA provides a secure website for this, the Injury Tracking Application (ITA), where data can be entered in a web form, uploaded as a file, or transmitted electronically.

Under 29 CFR 1904.41, these establishments must submit:

Establishments with 20 to 249 employees in an industry listed in appendix A to subpart E of part 1904, which submit information from the OSHA Form 300A annual summary (1904.41(a)(1)(i))
Establishments with 250 or more employees that are required to keep OSHA injury and illness records, which also submit information from Form 300A (1904.41(a)(1)(ii))
Establishments with 100 or more employees in an industry listed in appendix B to subpart E, which must also submit information from the OSHA 300 log and the 301 Incident Reports (1904.41(a)(2))

The employee counts are based on the number of employees at any time during the previous calendar year. The information is due by March 2 of the year after the calendar year covered by the forms (1904.41(c)).

It's important to note that the ITA is not a replacement for the OSHA 300 log. It is a way to submit data to OSHA, not a way to keep records. Employers must still maintain complete and accurate records of their workplace injuries and illnesses.

Overall, the OSHA 300 log is an important tool for helping employers to identify and address hazards in the workplace, and to create a safer and healthier working environment for their employees.

Here is a link to the OSHA ITA: https://www.osha.gov/injuryreporting/ita/