TL;DR
The OSHA 300 log is a running record of every recordable workplace injury and illness. Most employers with more than ten employees must maintain one. Key deadlines include recording incidents within seven calendar days, posting the 300A summary from February 1 through April 30, and submitting data electronically by March 2. Mistakes on this form don’t just invite citations, they corrupt your TRIR and DART rates, which directly affect ISNetworld scores, EMR calculations, and your ability to win bids.
If you need professional guidance with your OSHA recordkeeping, OSHA recordkeeping support can save you from costly errors and enforcement headaches.
Quick Takeaway: What is the OSHA 300 Log and Who Must File?
The OSHA 300 Log is a continuous regulatory record used by employers to document every recordable, work-related injury and illness. Under 29 CFR Part 1904, businesses with more than 10 employees at any point during the calendar year must maintain these records, unless they qualify for a partial low-hazard industry exemption.
Three structural requirements dictate annual compliance:
Form 300: The rolling master ledger tracking incident descriptions, dates, and severity.
Form 301: Individual incident reports detailing the mechanics of each specific injury.
Form 300A: The annual summary that must be physically posted on-site from February 1 through April 30, and submitted electronically via the Injury Tracking Application (ITA) by March 2 each year.
What Is the OSHA 300 Log?
The OSHA 300 log, formally titled the “Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses,” is a form where employers document every recordable injury and illness that occurs in their workplace. Each row captures the employee’s name, job title, date of injury, location, a description of what happened, and whether the case resulted in days away from work, restricted duty, job transfer, or other outcomes.
Governed by 29 CFR Part 1904, the form serves three purposes. It gives employers a structured way to track safety performance over time. It’s the primary document OSHA compliance officers ask for during inspections. And it feeds into OSHA’s data collection systems, including the Injury Tracking Application (ITA), which the agency uses to target enforcement and outreach.
The 300 log is not a standalone form. It works as part of a three-form family that every covered employer needs to understand.
The Three-Form Family: 300, 301, and 300A
Form 300: The Running Log
This is the spreadsheet-style document with one row per recordable case. Think of it as the master ledger. You add entries throughout the year as incidents occur.
Form 301: The Incident Report
For every row on the 300 log, there must be a corresponding Form 301 (or equivalent) that captures detailed information about the incident: what the employee was doing, how the injury happened, what body part was affected, and whether the object or substance involved was identified.
Form 300A: The Annual Summary
The 300A summarizes totals from your 300 log for the entire calendar year. It shows total cases, total days away, total restricted duty days, injury types, and illness types. This is the form you post publicly and, for many employers, submit electronically.
A critical distinction: the 300A is what gets posted where employees can see it. The 300 log contains employee names and should never be posted publicly.
Who Must Keep OSHA 300 Logs?
Most employers with more than ten employees must maintain OSHA injury and illness records. The ten-employee threshold is based on the peak number of employees at any point during the calendar year, not an annual average.
Employers in certain low-hazard industries (think some retail, finance, and real estate sectors) may qualify for a partial exemption based on their NAICS industry classification. But construction, manufacturing, warehousing, utilities, and most industrial sectors are never exempt.
Even employers with ten or fewer employees must still report severe incidents: fatalities within eight hours, and hospitalizations, amputations, or eye losses within 24 hours. The exemption applies to routine recordkeeping, not to reporting.
If you are a contractor working in commercial construction or similar high-hazard sectors, there is no scenario where you are exempt from maintaining a 300 log.
Key Terms Glossary
Calendar Days
OSHA counts calendar days, not workdays, when tallying days away from work or days of restricted duty. Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays all count. The only day you skip is the day the injury occurred.
DART Rate
The Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred rate measures serious incidents per 100 full-time employees. It uses the same OSHA 200,000-hour formula as TRIR but only counts cases that resulted in lost time, restricted duty, or job transfer. Your DART rate is what OSHA’s Site-Specific Targeting program uses to select establishments for inspection.
Days Away from Work
Counting begins the day after the injury or illness and continues on every calendar day (including weekends and holidays) until the employee returns to full, unrestricted duty. OSHA caps the count at 180 days per case. If the employee has not returned by then, record 180 and stop counting.
Establishment
In most industries, an establishment is a single physical location. In construction, it typically means the company’s fixed office, not individual jobsites, unless employees report directly to a jobsite rather than a fixed location. More on this in the construction-specific section below.
First Aid vs. Medical Treatment
This is the line that determines whether a case is recordable. OSHA maintains a specific, exhaustive list of what counts as first aid: non-prescription medications at nonprescription strength, tetanus shots, wound cleaning, bandaging, hot/cold therapy, rigid finger splints, eye patches, and similar treatments. Anything that strays from this list constitutes medical treatment and triggers a recording requirement. Prescription medication, including prescription-strength doses of over-the-counter drugs, is not first aid.
OSHA Recordability Matrix: First Aid vs. Medical Treatment
Category / Treatment Type | Non-Recordable First Aid (Exhaustive OSHA List) | Recordable Medical Treatment (Triggers 300 Log Entry) |
Medication | Using non-prescription medications at non-prescription strength. | Any prescription medication; or using OTC medication at prescription strength. |
Immunizations | Tetanus immunizations. | All other immunizations (e.g., Hepatitis B vaccines, Rabies vaccines). |
Wound Care | Cleaning, flushing, or soaking wounds; butterfly bandages, Steri-Strips. | Dermal stitches, staples, surgical glues, or advanced closure systems. |
Support Devices | Finger splints, bandages, gauze pads, elastic wraps. | Rigid splints, casts, or orthopedic boots designed to fully immobilize joints. |
Physical Therapy | Hot or cold therapy sessions (any number of treatments). | Physical therapy modalities or chiropractic adjustments. |
Foreign Object Removal | Removing splinters or eye debris using irrigation or cotton swabs. | Removing embedded materials from the eye or deep tissue via surgical means |
Privacy Case
Certain injuries require employers to write “privacy case” on the 300 log instead of the employee’s name. These include cases involving sexual assault, HIV infection, hepatitis, tuberculosis, mental illness, needlestick injuries, and other sensitive conditions. The case still must be recorded. Omitting it entirely is a violation.
Recordable Injury or Illness
A case is recordable if it is work-related, involves a new case (not a pre-existing condition), and meets one or more of these criteria: death, days away from work, restricted work or job transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, loss of consciousness, or a significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed healthcare professional.
Restricted Duty / Job Transfer
When an employee can work but cannot perform all routine functions of their job, or is moved to a different position because of the injury, the case is classified as restricted duty or job transfer. If an employee has both days away and restricted duty from the same incident, the entire duration is classified under the more severe category: days away from work.
TRIR (Total Recordable Incident Rate)
TRIR equals the number of recordable cases multiplied by 200,000, divided by total hours worked. Every case on your 300 log feeds this calculation. An inaccurate log produces an inaccurate rate, which flows into prequalification systems like ISNetworld and Avetta and into insurance rating calculations.
Work-Relatedness
An injury or illness is work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment caused or contributed to it, or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition. OSHA presumes work-relatedness if the injury occurred in the work environment unless a specific exception applies (such as the employee being present as a member of the general public).
Key Deadlines Quick-Reference Table
Deadline | What’s Required |
|---|---|
Within 7 calendar days of learning about an incident | Record the injury or illness on Forms 300 and 301 |
Within 8 hours | Report any work-related fatality to OSHA |
Within 24 hours | Report inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye to OSHA |
February 1 through April 30 | Post the completed Form 300A in a visible workplace location |
March 2, 2026 | Submit required data electronically via OSHA’s ITA |
5 years after the end of the calendar year | Retain all forms (300, 300A, 301); provide copies within one business day if requested |
Note that the five-year retention requirement applies even if the business changes ownership. Under 29 CFR 1904.34, the new owner inherits the obligation to maintain and p
e access to the previous five years of logs. While the successor is legally responsible for preserving these records, they are only held liable for the factual accuracy of the entries generated during their actual period of ownership.
For detailed guidance on expanded electronic submission requirements, including which establishment-size thresholds apply to your company, that breakdown is worth reviewing separately.
The 11 Most Common OSHA 300 Log Mistakes
This is where most employers searching for OSHA 300 log help actually need answers. These errors come up repeatedly in OSHA inspections, practitioner forums, and safety audit findings.
1. Handling Recordkeeping Without Professional OSHA Compliance Support
Nearly every mistake on this list traces back to one root cause: employers managing OSHA 300 logs without anyone on staff who truly understands the recording criteria. Evolution Safety Resources (ESR) provides OSHA compliance consulting that includes recordkeeping audits, log corrections, and classification reviews performed by credentialed professionals holding CSP, CHST, and OSHA 500/501 certifications. For mid-size contractors who lack a full-time safety director, ESR’s fractional safety manager service handles ongoing recordkeeping alongside broader program management, with bilingual (EN/ES) staff available for construction teams with Spanish-speaking crews. Getting trained eyes on your logs before posting or electronic submission deadlines prevents the cascade of classification errors, miscounted days, and inaccurate TRIR calculations described in the rest of this list.
2. Miscounting Days Away from Work or Restricted Duty
Practitioners on Reddit and safety forums consistently identify day-counting errors as the single most frequent 300 log mistake. The problems tend to cluster around three issues: counting only workdays instead of calendar days, skipping weekends and holidays, or stopping the count at year-end instead of continuing into the next calendar year.
OSHA requires continuous calendar-day counting until the employee returns to full duty, up to the 180-day cap. If an employee is injured on December 15 and doesn’t return until January 20, you count through the holidays and into the new year. You do not reset at January 1.
3. Confusing First Aid with Medical Treatment
If a doctor prescribes anything, including prescription-strength ibuprofen, the case is recordable. Period. Many employers assume that because a treatment “seems minor,” it qualifies as first aid. It does not. OSHA’s first aid list is 100% inclusive. If the treatment isn’t on the list, it’s medical treatment, and the case must be logged.
4. Wrong Person Signs the 300A
The 300A annual summary must be certified by a company executive, defined as an owner, officer, director, or the highest-ranking official at the establishment. Your HR manager or safety coordinator does not qualify unless they also hold one of those titles. This is an easy citation to avoid and an easy one to get wrong.
5. Posting the 300 Log Instead of the 300A
The 300 log contains employee names and sensitive medical information. It is not meant for public display. What gets posted is the 300A summary. One safety consultant shared in a YouTube walkthrough that this error often happens because small companies don’t realize the two forms serve different purposes, and they grab whatever’s in the file.
6. Skipping the 300A When You Had Zero Incidents
If your workplace had no recordable injuries or illnesses all year, you still must complete the 300A with zeros and post it from February 1 through April 30. A blank year does not exempt you from the posting requirement. Practitioners report that this catches first-time employers almost every time.
7. Not Recording Temp Worker Injuries
If your company directly supervises temporary or contract workers on a day-to-day basis, their injuries go on your 300 log. This catches many contractors on multi-employer worksites. The controlling question is who supervises the worker’s daily activities, not who signs their paycheck.
8. Failing to Update Logs When Classifications Change
An injury that starts as restricted duty but worsens into days away from work must be updated on the 300 log. OSHA’s recordkeeping standard (Subpart D) requires employers to revise entries when they learn that a case’s classification has changed. Leaving the original entry unchanged is a violation.
9. Vague Location and Description Fields
Writing “warehouse” in the location column is not specific enough. OSHA expects descriptions like “north end of loading dock” or “second floor storeroom.” Similarly, injury descriptions should identify the specific body part, the activity the employee was performing, and the object or substance involved. Inspectors flag vague entries.
10. Confusing Workers’ Comp with OSHA Recordability
These are independent systems. A case can be OSHA-recordable but not compensable under workers’ compensation, or compensable but not OSHA-recordable. The criteria are different. Using workers’ comp decisions as a proxy for recordability is a common and sometimes costly shortcut.
Understanding the distinction matters for experience rating and how your claims history affects insurance costs over time.
11. Late Recording Due to Delayed Reporting
The seven-calendar-day clock starts when the employer learns of the incident, not when the incident occurs. In construction, field crews may not report an injury for days. A case treated as first aid on-site can become recordable when a doctor later prescribes medication or physical therapy. Establishing clear reporting protocols with your field teams is the fix.
If your logs have accumulated errors or you’re not sure where you stand, a mock OSHA inspection is one of the fastest ways to identify gaps before a real compliance officer does.
It is critical to note that the seven-calendar-day clock starts when management or a supervisor learns of the incident. However, for chronic occupational illnesses—such as noise-induced hearing loss, respiratory conditions, or repetitive strain disorders—the recording clock legally triggers the exact day the employer receives a formal diagnostic report or medical evaluation confirming the condition is work-related. Waiting for a secondary opinion before logging the case can result in a late-filing citation.
Construction-Specific OSHA 300 Log Issues
Construction employers face unique complications that general guidance rarely addresses well. This is where most OSHA 300 log help articles fall short.
Multi-Site and Establishment Rules
OSHA defines an establishment as a single physical location where business is conducted. For construction companies, this typically means the fixed office where employees report, not individual jobsites. But if employees report directly to a jobsite and never come through a fixed office, that jobsite may qualify as the establishment.
Here is the practical decision tree:
Does the jobsite last one year or longer? Keep a separate 300 log for that site, per 29 CFR 1904.30(a).
Does the jobsite last less than one year? You can keep one 300 log that covers all short-term establishments, or organize logs by company division or geographic region.
Do employees report to a fixed office before heading to jobsites? Keep your log at that fixed office.
Do employees report directly to jobsites with no fixed office? You can maintain records at a central location, but you must be able to produce them within four business hours of a request.
For general contractors running multiple projects, getting the establishment question right is foundational. Everything else in your recordkeeping depends on it.
Multi-Employer Worksites
On a construction site with multiple employers, each contractor and subcontractor is responsible for maintaining OSHA 300 logs for the workers they supervise. The general contractor does not record sub employees on the GC’s log unless the GC is directly supervising those workers’ daily activities.
Bilingual Reporting Gaps
On construction sites with Spanish-speaking crews, incident reports are only as accurate as the information workers can communicate. If a crew member can’t effectively describe what happened in English, the resulting 301 and 300 log entries will be vague or incorrect. This is a data quality issue that compounds over time and skews your incident rates. Employers running bilingual crews should ensure that bilingual safety training extends to incident reporting procedures, not just toolbox talks.
How Your 300 Log Affects ISNetworld, Avetta, and EMR
This is the connection most employers miss, and it’s the reason OSHA 300 log accuracy is a business performance issue, not just a compliance checkbox.
During prequalification, systems like ISNetworld and Avetta collect your OSHA 300A logs for the past three years and compute your average TRIR and DART rates. These rates directly determine your safety grades. A miscounted day here, a missed recordable there, and suddenly your TRIR is higher (or suspiciously lower) than it should be. Either direction creates problems: inflated rates cost you bids, and underreported rates trigger audits.
Your experience modification rate (EMR) draws from the same underlying claims data. A contractor with consistently high TRIR and DART rates will see their EMR climb over the following 12 to 24 months, increasing workers’ compensation premiums and further eroding competitiveness.
OSHA’s Site-Specific Targeting program also uses DART data from 300A submissions to select establishments for inspection. High or rising DART rates put your name on the list.
The takeaway: an inaccurate 300 log doesn’t just create citation risk. It corrupts the numbers that control your insurance costs, your prequalification grades, and your ability to win work.
If your ISNetworld scores are suffering because of recordkeeping problems, ISNetworld help for contractors covers how to approach grade improvement strategically.
Electronic Submission Requirements (ITA)
OSHA’s electronic submission requirements are based on the number of employees at a specific physical location, not total company headcount.
Establishments with 250 or more employees in industries covered by the recordkeeping regulation must submit Form 300A data annually.
Establishments with 100 or more employees in specific high-hazard industries (listed in OSHA Appendix B to Subpart E) must submit detailed case-specific data from Forms 300 and 301, in addition to their Form 300A annual summary. This means your raw incident descriptions and injury details are transmitted directly to federal databases.
All electronic submissions go through OSHA’s Injury Tracking Application, and the annual deadline for the previous calendar year’s data is March 2. OSHA publishes portions of this submitted data publicly, which means your company’s injury history is fully visible to competitors, prospective clients, job applicants, and union organizers.
2026 Penalty Quick Reference
Violation Type | Maximum Penalty |
|---|---|
Serious violation | $16,550 per violation |
Failure to maintain OSHA 300 log | Up to $16,550 per form |
Failure to post Form 300A (Feb 1 through Apr 30) | Up to $16,550 |
Failure to submit electronic data by March 2 | Up to $16,550 |
Inaccurate records (underreporting) | Up to $16,550 per case |
Willful or repeat violations |
These numbers add up fast. A staffing agency in Austin was cited for four other-than-serious recordkeeping violations totaling $38,760. But the case triggered a broader investigation that uncovered serious hazards at client worksites, resulting in a separate inspection with an additional $62,400 in penalties. The recordkeeping violations were the door that opened the entire enforcement action.
As one safety professional put it: the thing that actually drains a contractor’s bank account after an OSHA inspection is usually sitting in a filing cabinet, whether it’s the missing written program, the expired training record, or the injury log that was never filled out right.
If you’ve already received a citation, understanding the 4-step OSHA citation response process is your immediate next step.
When to Get Professional Help with Your OSHA 300 Log
Some situations call for outside expertise. Here are the signals:
You’re approaching your first OSHA inspection and your logs haven’t been reviewed by anyone with recordkeeping experience.
You’re growing past 10 employees and need to set up recordkeeping systems for the first time.
Your ISNetworld or Avetta grades dropped and the prequalification system flagged your incident rates.
You had a serious incident and aren’t sure whether or how to record it, how to classify the days, or how the case interacts with your workers’ comp claim.
You don’t have a dedicated safety person and recordkeeping is one of several compliance tasks that keeps falling through the cracks. In that scenario, a fractional safety manager can handle recordkeeping alongside your broader safety program without the cost of a full-time hire.
You need someone to audit your existing logs before the February posting deadline or the March electronic submission deadline.
Getting OSHA 300 log help before a problem surfaces is always cheaper than getting it after a citation lands on your desk.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to keep a separate OSHA 300 log for each jobsite?
Only if the jobsite will be in operation for one year or longer. For short-term construction projects (under a year), you can maintain one 300 log covering all short-term sites, or organize records by company division or geographic region. The log must be producible within four business hours of a request.
What happens if I had zero recordable injuries this year?
You still must complete the 300A with zeros, have it certified by a company executive, and post it from February 1 through April 30. No incidents does not mean no paperwork.
Is a workers’ comp claim the same as an OSHA recordable injury?
No. Workers’ compensation and OSHA recordkeeping are independent systems with different criteria. A case can be recordable under OSHA but not compensable, or compensable but not recordable. Never use a workers’ comp determination as a substitute for an independent recordability analysis.
Who counts the days when an employee is on restricted duty and also misses work?
If the same injury results in both days away from work and restricted duty days, classify the entire duration under the more severe category: days away from work. Do not split the count between the two columns.
How long do I have to keep OSHA 300 logs?
Five years following the end of the calendar year the records cover. During that period, you must provide copies to current employees, former employees, their representatives, OSHA compliance officers, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics within one business day of a request.
Does the seven-day recording deadline start when the injury happens?
No. The seven-calendar-day clock starts when the employer learns of the injury or illness, not when it occurs. In construction, where field reports may arrive days late or first-aid cases escalate after a doctor visit, this distinction matters.
Can my HR manager sign the 300A?
Only if they are also an owner, officer, director, or the highest-ranking company official at the establishment. The title “HR Manager” alone does not qualify. This is a frequently cited violation because companies assume any senior staff member can sign.
What if my OSHA 300 log errors have already affected my ISNetworld grade?
Start by correcting your logs and recalculating your TRIR and DART rates. Then contact your prequalification system to update your data. If you need hands-on support navigating the correction and resubmission process, OSHA compliance consulting covers both the recordkeeping fix and the downstream prequalification impact.