5 Step Guide to Completing Your OSHA Form 300

BRIEF: The OSHA Form 300 is the Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses. The following 5-Steps serve as a breakdown of the OSHA recordkeeping requirements outlined in 29 CFR 1904 to complete an Injury Log for tracking workplace injuries and illnesses. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration estimates that the burden for this reporting to gather data and complete the OSHA Form 300 alone will cost employers millions of working hours per year.

"The cost to employers to complete the OSHA 300 Log alone will be millions of hours a year."

OSHA300.com saves time, money, and improves visibility in workplace safety by simplifying the recordkeeping process, streamlining reporting, and automating the electronic submission requirements for employers as required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The following guide contains information as well as screenshots of the OSHA300 app and how it walks you through creating your OSHA 300 logs.

What to Know to Get Started:

Every employer must complete an Incident Log for each establishment that is expected to be in operation for more than one year. You may keep one Log for all of your short-term establishments.

This record must be completed and maintained yearly and kept at the worksite for at least five years. Since the form contains information pertaining to employee health, it must be treated and used in a manner that maintains and protects the confidentiality of employees to the greatest extent possible.

The employer must record information about every work-related injury or illness on the OSHA Form 300 that involves the following:

Loss of consciousness
Restricted work activity or job transfer
Days away from work, or,
Medical treatment beyond first aid
Significant work-related injuries and illnesses that are diagnosed by a physician or licensed health care professional

Further, an employer must record any work-related injuries and illnesses that meet any of the specific recording criteria listed in 29 CFR 1904.8 through 1904.12.

Every injury or illness reported on the OSHA Form 300 must also have a corresponding OSHA Form 301 (or equivalent) completed and maintained for each injury or illness.

Step 1: Identify the Person

Identify the employee involved. If it is a privacy concern check the "Privacy Case" checkbox. This will keep the employee's name confidential. At this point, you will need the following information:

Case Number
Employee's Name
Job Title

For certain types of cases, the case will be selected as a Privacy Case. When logging a case, you must consider privacy in the event of:

an injury or illness to an intimate body part or to the reproductive system,
an injury or illness resulting from a sexual assault,
a mental illness,
a case of HIV infection, hepatitis, or tuberculosis,
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
other illnesses, if the employee independently and voluntarily requests that his or her name not be entered on the log.

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

Step 2: Describe the Case

To describe the case, you will need to determine the following information:

Date of Injury or Onset of Illness
Where the Event Occurred
Describe the Injury or Illness, Parts of Body Affected, and Object/Substance That Directly Injured or Made Person Ill

When describing injuries, it's helpful to have an understanding of how OSHA classifies different types of workplace injuries and illnesses. 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.

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.
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 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 for recordkeeping purposes is 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 the audiometric zero (also averaged at 2000, 3000, and 4000 hertz) in the same ear(s).
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.

Step 3: Classify the Case

When classifying a case on your log, you must record the most serious outcome of the incident and record it on the log. The available outcomes include:

Death
Days away from work
Job transfer or restriction
Other recordable cases

In some incidents, the outcome changes after you record the case. In such an event, you need to update the selection to reflect the most serious outcome for each case.

Step 4: Calculate and Record Days Away, Transferred, or Restricted

For every Injury or Illness on the log, you will log the number of days where the affected employee featured the following outcome:

Away from work (days)
On job transfer or restriction (days)

To calculate the data above, 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.

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.

Step 5: Classify the Injury

The final step to complete the OSHA 300 log is to classify the injury or illness. Every log will be classified in one of the following categories:

Injury
Skin disorder
Respiratory condition
Poisoning
Hearing loss
All other illnesses

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.

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.

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 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 for recordkeeping purposes is 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 the audiometric zero (also averaged at 2000, 3000, and 4000 hertz) in the same ear(s).

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.

Completing the Log

Once you've logged all injuries and illnesses for each Establishment, you must save the OSHA 300 Log and the privacy case list (if one exists). You must save the log for five (5) years following the end of the calendar year that these records cover.

NOTE: You must update the OSHA 300 Log during the five (5) year storage period if newly discovered recordable injuries or illnesses are found. Additionally, if there are any changes that have occurred in the classification of previously recorded injuries or illnesses, you must amend the log. If the description or outcome of a case changes, you must remove or line out the original entry and enter the new information.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Do I need to keep OSHA injury and illness records for short-term establishments (i.e., establishments that will exist for less than a year)? Yes, however, you do not have to keep a separate OSHA 300 Log for each such establishment.

You may keep one OSHA 300 Log that covers all of your short-term establishments. You may also include the short-term establishments' recordable injuries and illnesses on an OSHA 300 Log that covers short-term establishments for individual company divisions or geographic regions.

May I keep the records for all of my establishments at my headquarters location or at some other central location?

Yes, you may keep the records for an establishment at your headquarters or other central location if you can: Transmit information about the injuries and illnesses from the establishment to the central location within seven (7) calendar days of receiving information that a recordable injury or illness has occurred; and Produce and send the records from the central location to the establishment within the time frames required by § 1904.35 and § 1904.40 when you are required to provide records to a government representative, employees, former employees or employee representatives.

Some of my employees work at several different locations or do not work at any of my establishments at all. How do I record cases for these employees?

You must link each of your employees with one of your establishments, for recordkeeping purposes. You must record the injury and illness on the OSHA 300 Log of the injured or ill employee's establishment, or on an OSHA 300 Log that covers that employee's short-term establishment.

How do I record an injury or illness when an employee of one of my establishments is injured or becomes ill while visiting or working at another of my establishments, or while working away from any of my establishments?

If the injury or illness occurs at one of your establishments, you must record the injury or illness on the OSHA 300 Log of the establishment at which the injury or illness occurred. If the employee is injured or becomes ill and is not at one of your establishments, you must record the case on the OSHA 300 Log at the establishment at which the employee normally works.