General Recording Criteria | Recordkeeping Guidelines

An injury or illness is recordable when it meets any of the following criteria:

• 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 HCP.

Although most cases are recorded because they meet one of these criteria, some cases may meet more than one as the case continues. For example, an injured worker may initially be sent home to recuperate (making the case recordable as a "days away" case) and then subsequently return to work on a restricted "light duty" basis.

Death

Record an injury or illness that results in an employee's death by entering a check mark on the OSHA 300 Log in the space for cases resulting in death. Additionally, you have to verbally report a work-related fatality to OSHA within eight hours.

Days Away From Work

When an injury or illness involves one or more days away from work, record the injury or illness on the OSHA 300 Log with a check mark in the space for cases involving days away and an entry of the number of calendar days away from work. If the employee is out for an extended period of time, enter an estimate of the days that the employee will be away, and update the day count when the actual number of days is known.

Note

Begin counting days away on the day after the injury occurred or the illness began.

When a physician or HCP recommends that the worker stay at home but the employee comes to work anyway, record these injuries and illnesses on the OSHA 300 Log using the check box for cases with days away from work and enter the number of calendar days away recommended by the physician/HCP. Days away must be recorded whether or not the injured or ill employee follows the physician/HCP's recommendation.

If the physician/HCP recommends that the employee return to work but he or she stays at home anyway, end the count of days away from work on the date the physician/HCP recommends that the employee return to work.

In cases where you receive recommendations from two or more physicians or HCPs, make a decision as to which recommendation is the most authoritative and record the case based on that recommendation. The employer is the ultimate recordkeeping decision-maker and must resolve the differences in opinion. You may turn to a third HCP for this purpose, or make the recordability decision yourself.

Weekends, Holidays, and Vacations

Count the number of calendar days the employee was unable to work as a result of the injury or illness, regardless of whether or not the employee was scheduled to work on those day(s). Weekend days, holidays, vacation days, or other days off are included in the total number of days recorded if the employee would not have been able to work on those days because of a work-related injury or illness.

If an employee is injured or becomes ill on a Friday and reports to work on a Monday, and was not scheduled to work on the weekend, you do not need to record the case unless you have received information from a physician or HCP indicating that the employee should not have worked, or should have performed only restricted work during the weekend. If so, record the injury or illness as a case with days away from work or restricted work and enter the day counts, as appropriate.

If an employee is injured or becomes ill on the day before scheduled time off such as a holiday, a planned vacation, or a temporary plant closing, the case should be recorded only if you receive information from a physician or HCP indicating that the employee should not have worked, or should have performed only restricted work, during the scheduled time off. If that is the case, record the injury or illness as a case with days away from work or restricted work, and enter the day counts, as appropriate.

Capping the Count

You are not required to keep track of the number of calendar days away from work if the injury or illness resulted in more than 180 calendar days away from work and/or days of job transfer or restriction. In such a case, "cap" the total days away by entering 180 (or 180+) in the total days away column of the OSHA 300 Log.

Retiring or Leaving the Company

If an employee leaves your company for some reason unrelated to the injury or illness, such as retirement, a plant closing, or to take another job, you can stop counting days away from work or days of restriction/job transfer.

However, when an employee leaves your company because of the injury or illness, estimate the total number of days away or days of restriction/job transfer the employee would have experienced if he or she had remained on your payroll and enter the day count on the OSHA 300 Log.

Cases Carried into the Next Year

If a case occurs in one year but results in days away during the next calendar year, record the injury or illness only once. Enter the number of calendar days away for the injury or illness on the OSHA 300 Log for the year in which the injury or illness occurred. If the employee is still away from work because of the injury or illness when you prepare the annual summary, estimate the total number of calendar days you expect the employee to be away from work, use this number to calculate the total for the annual summary, and then update the initial log entry later when the day count is known or reaches the 180-day cap.

Restricted Work or Job Transfer

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the incidence of restricted work cases grew nearly 70 percent between 1994 through 2000, largely in an effort to encourage injured or ill employees to return to work as soon as possible.

The return-to-work programs increasingly being relied on by employers (often at the recommendation of their workers' compensation insurers) are designed to:

• Prevent aggravating the injury or illness,

• Allow recuperation,

• Rehabilitate employees more effectively,

• Reintegrate them back into the workplace more rapidly,

• Limit workers' compensation costs, and

• Retain productive workers.

Additionally, many employees want restricted work when it is available, and would rather return to work on a restricted basis over recuperating at home.

Decide if the Injury or Illness is Considered "Restricted Work"

Restricted work occurs when, as the result of a work-related injury or illness:

• You keep the employee from performing one or more of the routine functions of his or her job (work activities regularly performed at least once per week), or from working the full workday that he or she would otherwise have been scheduled to work; or

• A physician or HCP recommends that the employee not perform one or more of the routine functions of his or her job, or not work the full workday that he or she would otherwise have been scheduled to work.

When an employee's injury or illness involves restricted work or job transfer but does not involve days away from work, record it on the OSHA 300 Log by checking the space for job transfer or restriction and enter the number of restricted or transferred days in the "restricted workdays" column. However, you do not have to record restricted work or job transfers if the restriction or transfer occurs only for the day on which the injury occurred or the illness began.

Recording Restricted Work Cases

When a physician or HCP recommends restricted work, record it only if it affects one or more of the employee's routine job functions. To determine whether this is the case, evaluate the restriction in light of the routine functions of the injured or ill employee's job. If the restriction from you or the physician/HCP keeps the employee from performing one or more of his or her routine job functions, or from working the full workday the employee would otherwise have worked, the employee's work has been restricted and you must record the case.

If an employee works only for a partial work shift because of a work-related injury or illness, record it as a day of job transfer or restriction, except for the day on which the injury occurred or the illness began.

If a physician/HCP recommends vague restrictions, such as that the employee engage only in "light duty" or "take it easy for a week," you should ask that person whether the employee can do all of his or her routine job functions and work all of his or her normally assigned work shift. If the answer to both of these questions is yes, then the case does not involve a work restriction and does not have to be recorded as such. However, if the answer to one or both of these questions is no, the case involves restricted work and must be recorded as a restricted work case. In cases where you are unable to get clarification from the physician/HCP who recommended the restriction, record the injury or illness as a case involving restricted work.

When a physician/HCP recommends a job restriction meeting OSHA's definition, but the employee does all of his or her routine job functions anyway, you still must record the injury or illness on the OSHA 300 Log as a restricted work case. If job restrictions are recommended, ensure that the employee complies with that restriction. If you receive recommendations from two or more physicians/HCPs, decide which recommendation is the most authoritative, and record the case based on that recommendation.

Recording Job Transfers

If you assign an injured or ill employee to a job other than his or her regular job for part of the day, the case involves transfer to another job. Both job transfer and restricted work cases are recorded in the same box on the OSHA 300 Log. Do not include the day on which the injury or illness occurred.

For example, if you assign, or a physician/HCP recommends that you assign, an injured or ill worker to his or her routine job duties for part of the day and to another job for the rest of the day, the injury or illness involves a job transfer.

You count days of job transfer or restriction in the same way you count days away from work. The only difference is that, if you permanently assign the injured or ill employee to a job that has been modified or permanently changed in a manner that eliminates the routine functions the employee was restricted from performing, you may stop the day count when the modification or change is made permanent. In these cases, count at least one day of restricted work or job transfer.

Medical Treatment Beyond First Aid

First aid and medical treatment criteria will probably be the criteria you use the most when deciding whether a work-related injury must be recorded. OSHA's list of first aid treatments is inclusive, that is, you can look at it and without elaborate analysis, determine whether a treatment is first aid and thus not recordable. These treatments are considered first aid whether they are provided by a lay person, a physician, or HCP. Any treatment not on the first aid list is considered medical treatment and recordable, even when it is provided by someone other than a physician or HCP.

If a work-related injury or illness results in medical treatment beyond first aid, record it on the OSHA 300 Log. If the injury or illness does not involve death, one or more days away from work, one or more days of restricted work, or one or more days of job transfer, enter a check mark in the box for cases where the employee received medical treatment but remained at work and was not transferred or restricted.

Loss of Consciousness

Every work-related injury or illness case involving a complete loss of consciousness (not merely a sense of disorientation or other diminished level of awareness) is recordable, regardless of the length of time the employee remains unconscious. Fainting episodes involving voluntary activities such as vaccination programs or blood donations are not recordable. However, fainting episodes that result from mandatory medical procedures such as blood tests or physicals required by OSHA standards are considered work-related events and, as such, are recordable if they meet one or more of the recording criteria.

What Makes an Injury or Illness "Significant"

Significant diagnosed work-related injuries or illnesses are recordable under the general criteria, even if they do not result in death, days away from work, restricted work or job transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness. However, there are significant injuries, such as a punctured eardrum or a fractured toe or rib, for which neither medical treatment nor work restrictions may be recommended. In addition, there are some significant progressive diseases, such as byssinosis, silicosis, and some types of cancer, for which medical treatment or work restrictions may not be recommended at the time of diagnosis but are likely to be recommended as the disease progresses.

OSHA believes that cancer, chronic irreversible diseases, fractured or cracked bones, and punctured eardrums are generally considered significant injuries and illnesses and must be recorded at the initial diagnosis, even if medical treatment or work restrictions are not recommended or are postponed in a particular case. Record these "significant" cases within seven days of receiving a diagnosis from a physician or HCP.

Recording Privacy Cases | Recordkeeping Guidelines

If you have a privacy concern case, you cannot enter the employee's name on the 300 Log. Instead, enter "privacy case" in the space normally used for the employee's name. This will protect the privacy of the injured or ill employee when an authorized person requests access to the Log. Keep a separate, confidential list of the case numbers and employee names for your privacy concern cases so you can update the cases and provide the information to the government if asked to do so. The following privacy concern cases are the only types of occupational injuries and illnesses that fall under this category:

• An injury or illness to an intimate body part or the reproductive system;

• An injury or illness resulting from a sexual assault;

• Mental illnesses;

• HIV infection, hepatitis, or tuberculosis;

• Needlestick injuries and cuts from sharp objects that are contaminated with another person's blood or other potentially infectious material; and

• Other illnesses, if the employee independently and voluntarily requests that his or her name not be entered on the Log.

Identifiable Information

In certain injury or illness cases, coworkers who are allowed to access the Log may be able to deduce the identity of the injured or ill worker and obtain inappropriate knowledge of a privacy-sensitive injury or illness. For instance, knowing the department in which the employee works could inadvertently divulge the person's identity.

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, use discretion in describing the injury or illness on both the OSHA 300 and 301 forms. Enter enough information to identify the cause of the incident and the general severity of the injury or illness, but do not include details of an intimate or private nature. For example, a sexual assault case could be described as "injury from assault," or an injury to a reproductive organ could be described as "lower abdominal injury."

If you decide to voluntarily disclose the recordkeeping forms to persons other than government representatives, employees, former employees or authorized representatives, remove or hide the employees' names and other personally identifying information, except for the following cases. You may disclose the forms with personally identifying information only:

• To an auditor or consultant hired by the employer to evaluate the safety and health program;

• To the extent necessary for processing a claim for workers' compensation or other insurance benefits; or

• To a public health authority or law enforcement agency for uses and disclosures for which consent, an authorization, or opportunity to agree or object is not required.

Determine if it is a New or Continuing Case

You may occasionally have difficulty determining whether new signs or symptoms are due to a new workplace event or exposure or whether they are the continuation of an existing work-related injury or illness that has already been recorded. This is an important distinction, because a new injury or illness requires you to make a new entry on the OSHA 300 Log, while the continuation of an old recorded case requires, at most, an updating of the original entry.

Consider an injury or illness to be a "new case" if the employee:

• Has not previously experienced a recorded injury or illness of the same type that affects the same part of the body, or

• Previously experienced a recorded injury or illness of the same type that affected the same part of the body but had recovered completely (all signs and symptoms had disappeared) from the previous injury or illness and an event or exposure in the work environment caused the signs or symptoms to reappear.

Recording Chronic Illnesses

The key to recording chronic illnesses is determining whether the conditions will progress even in the absence of workplace exposure or whether those conditions are triggered by events in the workplace.

In occupational illnesses where the signs or symptoms may recur or continue in the absence of an exposure in the workplace, the case must be recorded only once. Examples include occupational cancers, asbestosis, tuberculosis, byssinosis, and silicosis. These conditions are chronic — once the disease is contracted, it may never be cured or completely resolved.

However, when an employee experiences the signs or symptoms of an injury or illness that are the result of an event or exposure in the workplace, such as an episode of occupational asthma or contact dermatitis, you must treat the incident as a new case. It is typical, but not always the case, for individuals with these conditions to be symptom-free if exposure does not occur.

To help you determine if the case is new or recurring, you may, but are not required to, seek the advice of a physician or other licensed healthcare professional (HCP). However, if you do, you must follow the physician or HCP's recommendation about whether the case is a new case or a recurrence. If you receive recommendations from two or more physicians or HCPs, you must decide which recommendation is the best documented, best reasoned, and most authoritative and record the case based on that recommendation.

Determine if the Injury or Illness is Work-Related

When an employee reports an illness or injury, you will have to decide if it should be recorded on the OSHA 300 Log. The following flow chart shows the steps you should use when making that decision.

Each fatality, injury, or illness is recordable if it:

• Is work-related;

• Is a new case; and

• Meets one or more of the general recording criteria.

What is "Significant Aggravation"

An injury or illness is work-related if an event or exposure in the workplace (the work environment) either caused or contributed to the resulting condition, or if it significantly aggravated a preexisting injury or illness. When the work-relatedness is not clear, evaluate the employee's work duties and environment to decide whether or not one or more events or exposures at work either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a preexisting condition.

The preexisting injury or illness must be one caused entirely by non-occupational factors. An injury or illness is a "preexisting condition" if it results solely from a non-work-related event or exposure that occurred outside the work environment. Preexisting conditions also include any injury or illness that the employee experienced while working for another employer.

In order to be recordable, work must have clearly worsened the injury or illness. OSHA considers that a preexisting injury or illness has been significantly aggravated when an event or exposure in the workplace results in any of the following:

• Death, provided that the preexisting injury or illness would likely not have resulted in death but for the occupational event or exposure.

• Loss of consciousness, provided that the preexisting injury or illness would likely not have resulted in loss of consciousness but for the occupational event or exposure.

• One or more days away from work, or days of restricted work, or days of job transfer that otherwise would not have occurred but for the occupational event or exposure.

• Medical treatment in a case where no medical treatment was needed for the injury or illness before the workplace event or exposure, or a change in medical treatment was necessitated by the workplace event or exposure.

When employees are working or conducting other tasks in the interest of their employer but at a location away from the employer's establishment, the work-relatedness of an injury or illness that arises is subject to the same decision making process that would occur if the case had occurred at the establishment itself. This applies when a delivery driver experiences an injury to his or her back while loading boxes and transporting them into a building, or when an employee is injured in a car accident while running errands for the company or traveling to make a speech on behalf of the company.

Exceptions: Non-Recordable Situations

Work-relatedness is presumed for injuries and illnesses resulting from events or exposures occurring in the work environment, except under the following conditions, which are not recordable.

1. At the time of the injury or illness, the employee was present in the work environment as a member of the general public rather than as an employee. In these situations, the injury or illness has nothing to do with the employee's work or status as an employee.

   Non-recordable — An employee of a retail store patronizing that store as a customer on a non-work day and was injured in a fall.

2. The injury or illness involves signs or symptoms that surface at work but result solely from a non-work-related event or exposure that occurs outside the work environment. For this exception to apply, the work environment cannot have caused, contributed to, or significantly aggravated the injury or illness.

   Non-recordable — A diabetic incident that occurs while an employee is working. No event or exposure at work contributed in any way to the incident.

3. The injury or illness results solely from voluntary participation in a wellness program or in a medical, fitness, or recreational activity such as blood donation, physical examination, flu shot, exercise class, racquetball, or baseball. This allows you to exclude cases that are related to personal matters of exercise, recreation, medical examinations, or participation in blood donation programs when they are voluntary and are not being undertaken as a condition of work.

   Non-recordable — A worker is injured while performing aerobics in the company gymnasium during his or her lunch hour.

   Non-recordable — An employee suffers a severe reaction to a flu shot that was administered as part of a voluntary inoculation program.

4. The injury or illness is solely the result of an employee eating, drinking, or preparing food or drink for personal consumption, whether bought on your premises or brought in.

   Non-recordable — An employee is injured by choking on a sandwich brought from home while in your establishment. Likewise, if the employee contracts food poisoning from a sandwich brought from home or purchased in the company cafeteria and must take time off to recover, the case is not considered work-related.

   Note

   If the employee is made ill by eating food contaminated by workplace contaminants (such as lead), or gets food poisoning from food supplied by your company for a business meeting or company function, the case would be considered work-related.

5. The injury or illness is solely the result of an employee doing personal tasks unrelated to their employment, at the establishment outside of the employee's assigned working hours (off-shift time).

   Non-recordable — An employee using a meeting room in your company, outside of his or her assigned work hours, to hold a meeting for a civic group and slipped and fell in the hallway.

6. The injury or illness is solely the result of personal grooming, self medication for a non-work-related condition, or is intentionally self-inflicted, such as attempted suicide.

   Non-recordable — A burn injury from a hair dryer used at work to dry the employee's hair.

   Non-recordable — A negative reaction to a medication brought from home to treat a non-work related condition.

7. The injury or illness is caused by a motor vehicle accident and occurs on a company parking lot or company access road while the employee is commuting to or from work or on a personal errand.

   Non-recordable — An employee is injured in a car accident while arriving at work, or while leaving the company's property at the end of the day, or while driving on his or her lunch hour to run an errand.

   Note

   If an employee is injured in a car accident while leaving the property to purchase supplies for work, the case is considered work-related. Likewise, if an employee is injured by slipping on ice permitted to accumulate in the parking lot, the case is work-related.

8. The illness is the common cold or flu. These can be excluded, even if contracted while the employee was at work.

   Note

   You must evaluate cases of contagious diseases such as tuberculosis, brucellosis, or hepatitis C to determine if they are work-related.

9. The illness is a mental illness. Mental illness will not be considered work-related unless the employee voluntarily provides you with an opinion from a physician or other licensed healthcare professional with appropriate training and experience, such as a psychiatrist, psychologist, or psychiatric nurse practitioner, stating that the employee has a mental illness that is work-related.

   Note

   If you do not believe the reported mental illness is work-related, you may refer the case to a physician or other licensed healthcare professional for a second opinion.

Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred (DART) Rate

Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred (DART) Rate

This includes cases involving days away from work, restricted work activity, and transfers to another job and is calculated based on (N/EH) x (200,000) where N is the number of cases involving days away and/or job transfer or restriction, EH is the total number of hours worked by all employees during the calendar year, and 200,000 is the base for 100 full-time equivalent employees

Establishment

An establishment is a single physical location where business is conducted or where services or industrial operations are performed. For activities where employees do not work at a single physical location, such as construction; transportation; communications, electric, gas and sanitary services; and similar operations, the establishment is represented by main or branch offices, terminals, stations, etc. that either supervise such activities or are the base from which personnel carry out these activities.

Normally, one business location has only one establishment. Under limited conditions, the employer may consider two or more separate businesses that share a single location to be separate establishments. An employer may divide one location into two or more establishments only when:

• Each of the establishments represents a distinctly separate business;

• Each business is engaged in a different economic activity;

• No one industry description in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual (1987) applies to the joint activities of the establishments; and

• Separate reports are routinely prepared for each establishment on the number of employees, their wages and salaries, sales or receipts, and other business information. For example, if an employer operates a construction company at the same location as a lumber yard, the employer may consider each business to be a separate establishment.

An establishment can include more than one physical location, but only under certain conditions. An employer may combine two or more physical locations into a single establishment only when:

• The employer operates the locations as a single business operation under common management;

• The locations are all located in close proximity to each other; and

• The employer keeps one set of business records for the locations, such as records on the number of employees, their wages and salaries, sales or receipts, and other kinds of business information. For example, one manufacturing establishment might include the main plant, a warehouse a few blocks away, and an administrative services building across the street.

For employees who telecommute from home, the employee's home is not a business establishment and a separate OSHA 300 Log is not required. Employees who telecommute must be linked to one of your establishments.

First Aid

In general, first aid treatment can be distinguished from medical treatment because:

• First aid is usually administered after the injury or illness occurs and at the location (workplace) where it occurred.

• First aid usually consists of one-time or short-term treatment.

• First aid treatments are usually simple and require little or no technology.

• First aid can be administered by people with little training (beyond first aid training) and even by the injured or ill person.

• First aid is usually administered to keep the condition from worsening, while the injured or ill person is awaiting medical treatment.

For the recordkeeping standard, first aid treatment means the following:

• Using a non-prescription medication at non-prescription strength (for medications available in both prescription and non-prescription form, a recommendation by a physician or HCP to use a non-prescription medication at prescription strength is considered medical treatment);

• Administering tetanus immunizations (other immunizations, such as hepatitis B vaccine or rabies vaccine, are considered medical treatment);

• Cleaning, flushing, or soaking wounds on the surface of the skin;

• Using wound coverings such as bandages, Band-Aids™, gauze pads, etc.; or using butterfly bandages or Steri-Strips™ (other wound closing devices such as sutures or staples are considered medical treatment);

• Using hot or cold therapy;

• Using any non-rigid means of support, such as elastic bandages, wraps, non-rigid back belts, etc. (devices with rigid stays or other systems designed to immobilize parts of the body are considered medical treatment);

• Using temporary immobilization devices while transporting an accident victim (splints, slings, neck collars, back boards, etc.);

• Drilling of a fingernail or toenail to relieve pressure, or draining fluid from a blister;

• Using eye patches;

• Removing foreign bodies from the eye using only irrigation or a cotton swab;

• Removing splinters or foreign material from areas other than the eye by irrigation, tweezers, cotton swabs or other simple means;

• Using finger guards;

• Using massages (physical therapy or chiropractic treatment are considered medical treatment for recordkeeping purposes); or

• Drinking fluids for relief of heat stress.

Injury or Illness

An injury or illness is an abnormal condition or disorder. Injuries include cases such as, but not limited to, a cut, fracture, sprain, or amputation. Illnesses include both acute and chronic illnesses, such as, but not limited to, a skin disease, respiratory disorder, or poisoning. (Note: Injuries and illnesses are recordable only if they are new, work-related cases that meet one or more of the Part 1904 recording criteria.)

Medical Treatment

Medical treatment means the management and care of a patient to combat disease or disorder. Under OSHA's recordkeeping standard, medical treatment does not include:

• Visits to a physician or other licensed healthcare professional solely for observation or counseling;

• The conduct of diagnostic procedures, such as x-rays and blood tests, including the administration of prescription medications used solely for diagnostic purposes (eye drops to dilate pupils); or

• Procedures that constitute the standard's definition of first aid.

Physician or Other Licensed Healthcare Professional

A physician or other licensed healthcare professional is an individual whose legally permitted scope of practice (i.e., license, registration, or certification) allows him or her to independently perform, or be delegated the responsibility to perform, the activities described by this regulation.

Work Environment

OSHA defines the work environment as the establishment and other locations where one or more employees are working or are present as a condition of their employment. The work environment includes not only physical locations, but also the equipment or materials used by an employee to perform work.

Location and Retrieval of Records

You can 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 calendar days of receiving information that a recordable injury or illness occurred. You must also be able to produce and send the records from the central location to the establishment within the required time frames when the records are requested.

• OSHA inspector or other government representative: When an OSHA inspector or other government representative asks for the records you keep under Part 1904, provide them copies within four business hours. If you maintain the records at a location in a different time zone, use the business hours of the establishment at which the records are located when calculating the deadline.

• Employee, former employee, or representative: When an employee, former employee, personal representative, or authorized employee representative asks for copies of your current or stored 300 Log(s) for an establishment the employee or former employee has worked in, you must give the requester a copy of the relevant page(s) by the end of the next business day.

  You cannot remove the names of the employees or any other information from the OSHA 300 Log before you give copies to the requester. However, to protect the privacy of injured and ill employees, do not record the employee's name on the 300 Log for certain privacy concern cases.

• Employee, former employee, or representative: When an employee, former employee, or personal representative asks for a copy of the OSHA 301 Incident Report describing an injury or illness to that employee or former employee, give it to the requester by the end of the next business day.

• Union representative: When an authorized employee representative asks for a copy of the 301 Incident Report for an establishment where the agent represents employees under a collective bargaining agreement, give copies of those forms to the authorized employee representative within seven calendar days. You are only required to provide information from the section titled "About the case." Remove all other information from the copy of the 301 Incident Report (or the equivalent substitute form) that you give to the authorized employee representative.

Multiple Business Establishments

When you have multiple business establishments, keep a separate OSHA 300 Log for each one that is expected to be in operation for a year or longer. Do not, however, keep a separate log for each establishment that will exist for less than a year.

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

Recording Employees at Different Locations

For recording purposes, those employees who work at several different locations or do not work in a specific location at all, will need to be linked to one of your business locations.

When an employee from one of your locations is injured or becomes ill while visiting or working at another of your locations, record the injury or illness on the 300 Log of the location at which the injury or illness occurred. If one of your employees is injured or becomes ill while working away from any of your business locations, record the case on the 300 Log at the location where the employee normally works.

New Recordkeeping Forms | Recordkeeping Guidelines

OSHA 300 Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses

The OSHA 300 Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses replaces the OSHA 200 Log. Use the 300 Log to document recordable injuries and illnesses, either electronically or on paper. You may use forms that are different from the OSHA 300 Log, provided that the electronic record or paper forms are equivalent to the 300 Log. Record the injury or illness within seven calendar days of receiving information that it occurred.

OSHA 301 Injury and Illness Incident Report

The OSHA 301 Injury and Illness Incident Report replaces the OSHA Form 101. For each recordable injury or illness on the 300 Log, complete an OSHA 301 Incident Report form, or an equivalent. The 301 is designed to accommodate lengthier, detailed information about the incident. Many employers use a workers' compensation or an insurance form instead of the 301 Incident Report, or supplement a workers' comp/insurance form by adding any additional information required by OSHA. Record the injury or illness within seven calendar days of receiving information that it occurred.

OSHA 300A Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses

The OSHA 300A Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses is a new form for posting the annual summary of injuries and illnesses. At the end of each calendar year:

• Review your 300 Log to verify that the entries are complete and accurate, and correct any deficiencies identified.

• Create an annual summary by totaling the columns on the 300 Log. If you had no recordable cases, enter zeros for each column total. Using the OSHA 300A (or an equivalent), enter the calendar year covered, the company's name, establishment name, establishment address, annual average number of employees covered by the 300 Log, and the total hours worked by all employees covered by the Log. If you are using an equivalent form, also include the employee access and employer penalty statements found on the OSHA 300A Summary.

• Certify that the information is accurate. A company executive must certify that he or she has examined the 300 Log and believes that the summary is correct and complete. The company executive may be the owner (only if the company is a sole proprietorship or partnership), an officer in the corporation, the highest ranking official (or immediate supervisor) working at the establishment.

• Post a copy of the annual summary in each establishment in a conspicuous place or places where notices to employees are customarily posted. Post it no later than February 1 of the year following the year covered by the records and keep the Summary in place until April 30. Ensure that it is always available for viewing by employees.

Equivalent Forms

You can keep your records on computer equipment only if the computer system can produce paper copies of equivalent forms when access to them is required by OSHA, an employee or former employee, or employee representative. Many employers use a workers' compensation or insurance form instead of the 301 Incident Report or supplement a workers' comp/insurance form by adding any additional information required by OSHA. Also, the records may be emailed, if requested. A record is considered "equivalent" when it:

• Has the same information,

• Is as readable and understandable, and

• Is completed using the same instructions as the OSHA form it replaces.

Seven Calendar Days to Record

In most instances, you will know immediately or within a short time that a recordable case has occurred. Sometimes, however, it may be several days before you are informed that an employee's injury or illness meets recordable criteria. OSHA requires that each recordable injury or illness be recorded on the 300 Log and 301 Incident Report within seven calendar days of receiving information that a recordable injury or illness has occurred.

Decide Which Employees to Record | Recordkeeping Guidelines

On your 300 Log, enter the recordable injuries and illnesses of all employees on your payroll, whether they are labor, executive, hourly, salary, part-time, seasonal, or migrant workers. Also enter the recordable injuries and illnesses that occur to employees who are not on your payroll, such as temporary and leased workers, if you supervise them on a day-to-day basis.

If your business is organized as a sole proprietorship or partnership, the owner or partners are not considered employees for recordkeeping purposes. Likewise, self-employed individuals are not covered by the recordkeeping regulation and you do not need to record it if they become ill or are injured while doing work in your establishment.

Temporary and Contractor's Employees

When injuries or illnesses occur to employees from a temporary help service, employee leasing service, or personnel supply service, record them on your 300 Log if you supervise them on a day-to-day basis.

If a contractor's employee is under the daily supervision of the contractor, the contractor is responsible for recording the injury or illness. But, if you supervise the contractor employee's work on a day-to-day basis, record the injury or illness on your 300 Log.

Each injury or illness must be recorded only once. You and the temporary help service, employee leasing service, personnel supply service, or contractor need to coordinate the recordkeeping to make sure that each injury and illness is recorded only once, either on your 300 Log (if you provide daily supervision) or on the other employer's 300 Log (if that company provides daily supervision).

Employee Training and Involvement

OSHA requires that your employees and their representatives be involved in the recordkeeping system in the following ways:

• Inform each employee of how he or she is to report an injury or illness. Set up a way for them to report work-related injuries and illnesses promptly, and explain the reporting method to them.

• Provide limited access to your injury and illness records for your employees, former employees, and their representatives (authorized collective bargaining agent, a person designated in writing by the employee, or the legal representative of a deceased or legally incapacitated employee or former employee). You can't charge for these copies the first time they are provided. However, if one of the designated persons asks for additional copies, you may assess a reasonable charge for retrieving and copying the records.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act prohibits you from discriminating against an employee for reporting a work-related fatality, injury, or illness. The Act also protects employees who file a safety and health complaint, ask for access to the injury and illness records, or otherwise exercise their rights under the OSH Act.

Petition for Modification of Abatement

Abatement dates are assigned on the basis of the best information available at the time the citation is issued. When you are unable to meet an abatement date because of uncontrollable events or other circumstances, and the 15 working day contest period has expired, you may file a "Petition for Modification of Abatement" (PMA) with the OSHA area director.

The PMA must be in writing and must be submitted no later than one working day after the abatement date. To show clearly that the employer has made a good-faith effort to comply, the PMA must include all of the following information:

• Steps already taken in an effort to achieve compliance and dates they were taken;

• Additional time needed to comply;

• Why additional time is necessary;

• Interim steps being taken to safeguard employees against the cited hazard(s) until the abatement;

• A statement that the petition has been posted, the date of posting and, when appropriate, a statement that the petition has been furnished to an authorized representative of the affected employees. The petition must remain posted for 10 working days, during which employees may file an objection.

A PMA may be granted or opposed by the OSHA area director. If it is opposed, it automatically becomes a contested case before the Review Commission. Contact your OSHA office for more information on PMAs.

Review Process

If the written Notice of Contest has been filed within the required 15 working days, the OSHA area director forwards the case to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC). The Commission is an independent agency not associated with OSHA or the Department of Labor. The Commission assigns an administrative law judge (ALJ) to the case.

The judge may investigate and disallow the contest if it is found to be legally invalid, or a hearing may be scheduled at a public place near the employer's workplace. The employer and the employees have the right to participate in the hearing; OSHRC does not require that they be represented by attorneys.

Once the ALJ has ruled, any party to the case may request a further review by OSHRC. Any of the OSHRC commissioners also may, at his or her own motion, bring a case before the Commission for review. Commission rulings may be appealed to the appropriate U.S. Court of Appeals.

Appeals in State Plan States

States with their own occupational safety and health programs have a state system for review and appeal of citations, penalties, and abatement periods. The procedures are generally similar to federal OSHA's, but cases are heard by a state review board or equivalent authority.

The Contest Process | Inspections

If the written Notice of Contest has been filed within the required 15 working days, the OSHA area director will forward the case to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The Commission assigns the case to an administrative law judge who usually will schedule a hearing in a public place close to the workplace. Both employers and employees have the right to participate in this hearing which contains all the elements of a trial, including examination and cross-examination of witnesses. The employer may choose to represent itself or be represented by an attorney. It is the administrative law judge's responsibility to affirm, modify, or eliminate any contested items of the citation of penalty.

Appeals Process

As with any other legal procedure, there is an appeals process. Once the administrative law judge has ruled, any party to the case may request a further review by the full Review Commission. In addition, any of the commissioners may, on his or her own motion, bring the case before the entire Commission for review. The Commission's ruling, in turn, may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the circuit in which the case arose or for the circuit where the employer has its principal office.

How to Contest | Inspections

If you wish to contest any portion of your citation, a written Notice of Contest must be submitted within 15 working days after receipt of the citation and notice of penalty. This must be done, even if you have orally stated your disagreement with a citation, penalty, or abatement date during a telephone conversation or an informal conference.

Notice of Contest

The Notice of Contest must clearly state what is being contested as well as whether all the violations on the citation, or just specific violations, are being contested. The Notice should include:

• The citation,

• The penalty,

• The abatement date, or

• Any combination of these factors.

Your contest must be made in good faith. A contest filed solely to avoid your responsibilities for abatement or payment of penalties will not be considered a good-faith contest.

Abating Violations During the Process

A proper contest of any item suspends your obligation to abate and pay until the item contested has been judicially resolved. If you contest only the penalty, you must still correct all violations by the dates indicated on the citation. If only some items on the citation are contested, the other items must be corrected by the abatement date and the corresponding penalties paid within 15 days of notification.

Negotiating a Settlement

After you file a Notice of Contest, your case is officially in litigation. If you wish to settle the case, you may contact the OSHA area director who will give you the name of the OSHA attorney handling the case. All settlements of contested cases are negotiated between you and the attorney according to the rules of procedure of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Recording Injuries/Illnesses Related to Travel and Telecommuting

Employees on Travel Status

Injuries and illnesses that occur while an employee is on travel status are work-related if, at the time of the injury or illness, the employee was engaged in work activities on behalf of your company. Some of these activities include travel to and from customer contacts, conducting job tasks, and entertaining or being entertained to transact, discuss, or promote business.

Work-related entertainment includes only entertainment activities being engaged in at your company's direction. When an employee joins a private club or organization, perhaps to "network" or make business contacts, an injury that occurs there is not considered work-related.

Injuries or illnesses that occur when the employee is on travel status do not have to be recorded when:

• A traveling employee checks into a hotel, motel, or into another temporary residence for one or more days, he or she establishes a "home away from home." You must evaluate the employee's activities after he or she checks into the hotel, motel, or other temporary residence for their work-relatedness in the same manner as you evaluate the activities of a non-traveling employee.

• The employee checks into the temporary residence, he or she is considered to have left the work environment. When the employee begins work each day, he or she re-enters the work environment. If the employee has established a "home away from home" and is reporting to a fixed worksite each day, you also do not consider injuries or illnesses work-related if they occur while the employee is commuting between the temporary residence and the job location.

• An employee takes a side trip for personal reasons. Injuries or illnesses are not considered work-related if they occur while the employee is on a personal detour from a reasonably direct route of travel.

Employees Working at Home (Telecommuting)

Injuries and illnesses that occur while an employee is working at home, including work in a home office, will be considered work-related if the injury or illness:

• Occurs while the employee is performing work for pay or compensation in the home, and

• Is directly related to the performance of work, rather than to the general home environment or setting.

For example, if an employee drops a box of work documents and injures his or her foot, the case is considered work-related. If an employee's fingernail is punctured by a needle from a sewing machine used to perform garment work at home, becomes infected and requires medical treatment, the injury is considered work-related.

However, if an employee is injured because he or she trips on the family dog while rushing to answer a work phone call, the case is not considered work-related. If an employee working at home is electrocuted because of faulty home wiring, it is not considered work-related.

Informal Conference and Settlement

Before deciding whether to file a Notice of Contest, an employer may request an informal conference with the OSHA area director to discuss the citation and notification of penalty. This is an opportunity for the employer to:

• Obtain a better explanation of the violations cited;

• Obtain a more complete understanding of the specific standards which apply;

• Negotiate and enter into an informal Settlement Agreement;

• Discuss ways to correct the violations;

• Discuss problems with the abatement dates;

• Discuss problems concerning employee safety practices;

• Resolve disputed citations and penalties; and

• Obtain answers to any other questions you may have.

It's a good idea to take advantage of the opportunity to have an informal conference with OSHA if you foresee any difficulties in complying with any part of the citation. An informal conference, however, will neither extend the 15 working day Notice of Contest period nor take the place of the filing of a written notice if you desire to contest. Employee representative(s) have the right to participate in any informal conference or negotiations.

Extending the Abatement Date

If you agree that the cited violations do exist, but have a valid reason for wishing to extend the abatement date(s), you may discuss this with the area director in an informal conference. The director may issue an amended citation which changes the abatement date prior to the expiration of the 15 working day period without your filing a Notice of Contest.

Final Settlement

If you do not contest within 15 days, your citation will become a final order. After this occurs, the OSHA area director may continue to provide information and assistance on how to abate the hazards cited in your citation. However, the director may not amend or change any citation or penalty which has become a final order; but only advise you on abatement methods or extend the time needed to abate the violation.

Appeals Process | Inspections

Employee Appeals

If an inspection was initiated due to an employee complaint, the employee or authorized employee representative may request an informal review of any decision not to issue a citation.

Employees may not contest citations, amendments to citations, penalties, or lack of penalties. They may, however, contest the time allowed for abatement of a hazardous condition. They also may contest an employer's "Petition for Modification of Abatement" (PMA) which requests an extension of the abatement period. Employees must contest the PMA within 10 working days of its posting or within 10 working days after an authorized employee representative has received a copy.

Within 15 working days of the employer's receipt of a citation, the employee may submit a written objection to OSHA. The OSHA area director forwards the objection to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, which operates independently of OSHA.

Employees may request an informal conference with OSHA to discuss any issues raised by an inspection, citation, notice of proposed penalty, or employer's notice of intention to contest.

Employer Appeals

When issued a citation and notice of proposed penalty, an employer may request an informal meeting with OSHA's area director to discuss the case. The area director is authorized to enter into settlement agreements that revise citations and penalties to avoid prolonged legal disputes.

Trade Secrets | Recordkeeping Guidelines

In providing access to records, you may withhold trade secret information but must provide information needed to protect employee health. Where it is necessary to protect employee health, you may be required to release trade secret information but condition access on a written agreement not to abuse the trade secret or to disclose the chemical's identity.

OSHA allows you to delete from records any trade secret that discloses manufacturing processes or the percentage of a chemical substance in a mixture, but you must state when such deletions are made. When deletion impairs the evaluation of where or when exposure occurs, provide alternative information that is sufficient to permit the requester to make such evaluations.

A specific chemical identity may be withheld when you can demonstrate it is a trade secret, you state this to the requester, and all other information on the properties and effects of the toxic substance is disclosed. The specific chemical identity, however, must be disclosed to a treating physician or nurse when that physician or nurse states that a medical emergency exists and the identity is necessary for treatment. When the emergency is over, you may require the physician or nurse to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Provide access to a specific chemical identity in non-emergency situations to an employee, an employee's designated representative, or a healthcare professional if it will be used for one or more of the following activities:

• Assess the hazards of the chemicals to which employees will be exposed.

• Conduct or assess sampling of the workplace atmosphere to determine employee exposure levels.

• Conduct pre-assignment or periodic medical surveillance of exposed employees.

• Provide medical treatment to exposed employees.

• Select or assess appropriate personal protective equipment for exposed employees.

• Design or assess engineering controls or other protective measures for exposed employees.

• Conduct studies to determine the health effects of exposure.

In these instances, however, you can require the requester to submit a written statement of need, the reasons why alternative information will not suffice, and to sign a confidentiality agreement not to use the information for any purpose other than the health need stated and not to release it under any circumstances, except to OSHA.

The standard further prescribes the steps you must follow if your company decides not to disclose the specific chemical identity requested by the healthcare professional, employee, or designated representative. Briefly, these steps are:

• Provide a written denial.

• Provide the denial within 30 days of the request.

• Provide evidence that the chemical identity is a trade secret.

• Explain why alternative information is adequate.

• Give specific reasons for the denial.

An employee, designated representative, or healthcare professional may refer such a denial to OSHA for review and comment.

Variances | Inspections

If your company is unable to comply with a new standard because of the unavailability of materials, equipment, or professional or technical personnel, or can prove that your facility or methods of operation provide employee protection at least as effective as that required by OSHA, it may apply for a variance from a specific standard.

Whenever an employer applies for either a temporary or a permanent variance, he or she must inform employees of the application and of their right to request a hearing.

Temporary Variance

When an employer cannot comply with a new standard by its effective date, it may apply for a temporary variance from that standard. To be eligible for a temporary variance, the employer must put into force an effective program for coming into compliance with the standard or regulations as quickly as possible. In the meantime, it must be demonstrated to OSHA that all available steps are being taken to safeguard employees.

A temporary variance may be granted for up to one year; it can be renewed twice, each time for six months.

Permanent Variance

You may also apply for a permanent variance from a standard if you can prove that your present facilities or methods of operation are at least as safe and healthful as those required by the OSHA standard.

In making a determination on a permanent variance, OSHA reviews the employer's evidence and, where appropriate, arranges a visit to the workplace to confirm the circumstances of the application. If the request has merit, OSHA may grant a permanent variance. Final variance orders detail the employer's specific responsibilities and requirements and explain exactly how the employer's method varies from the OSHA requirement.