EMPLOYER RECORDKEEPING REQUIREMENTS UNDER OSHA

How many workers are getting injured or made ill at your workplace?

• What kinds of injuries and illnesses are they suffering?
• In what departments or on what jobs are the most severe injuries/illnesses occurring?
• Based on this information, what hazards should be priorities to eliminate or control?

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

The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) requires many employers to prepare and maintain records of work-related injuries and illnesses for their facilities.

Workers and union representatives have legal rights under the OSH Act, and under OSHA’s recordkeeping regulation, to see and obtain copies of these documents from their employer.

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

This resource handout will:

• review regulations regarding OSHA 300 Logs,
• highlight the main provisions in OSHA’s recordkeeping rule, and
• identify some key uses and limitations of employer-kept injury and illness information.

RECORDKEEPING REQUIREMENTS

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

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

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

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

• death,
• days away from work,
• restricted work or transfer to another job,
• medical treatment beyond first aid,
• loss of consciousness, or
• a significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional.

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

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

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

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

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

Forms Used For Recording Injuries and Illnesses [1904.29]

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

• OSHA 300 Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses on which the employer must report injuries and illnesses;
• Form 301, Injury and Illness Incident Report, on which the employer must record detailed information on how each injury or illness case occurred; and
• Form 300-A, Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses for a calendar year, which the employer must post in the workplace annually. 

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

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

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

These 6 categories are:

1.       injury,

2.       skin disorder,

3.       respiratory condition,

4.       poisoning,

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

6.       all other illnesses.

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

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

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

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

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

Privacy and Recording Injuries and Illnesses [1904.29]

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

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

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

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

The Annual Summary [1904.32]

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

Keeping the Injury and Illness Records [1904.33]

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

Employee and Union Rights to Records [1904.35]

Under the rule, employers are required to inform workers how to report injuries or illnesses.  Employers are required to set up a way to receive these reports promptly. The employer must also provide workers, former workers, their personal representatives, and their authorized employee representative (union representative) with access to injury and illness records, including a copy of the OSHA 300 Log. Copies must be provided by the end of the next business day following a request. The names of employees must be left on the OSHA 300 Log unless they are “privacy concern cases.” 

Employees, former employees, or personal representatives must be given a copy of a requested Form 301 Incident Report by the end of the next business day following a request. However, when an authorized employee representative (union representative) asks for a copy of the Form 301 Incident Report, the employer is only required to provide copies of the part of the form that contains information about the case, with all personal information about the employee removed, within seven (7) calendar days.

Employers must provide copies of the OSHA 300 Logs and Form 301 Incident Reports free of charge the first time they are requested.

No Discrimination Allowed [1904.36]

The rule notes that Section 11(c) of the OSH Act prohibits the employer from discriminating against a worker for reporting a work-related injury, illness or death; filing a safety and health complaint; asking for access to injury and illness records; or for exercising any other rights under the OSH Act.

Many employers have “safety incentive” and/or “injury discipline” programs that may violate OSHA’s Section 11(c) anti-discrimination provisions. Under these incentive and discipline programs, workers who report injuries may be denied some type of reward or may be automatically placed on a discipline track or drug-tested. Workers may want to consider filing OSHA 11(c) complaints of discrimination if they have suffered such discrimination after reporting an injury or illness. OSHA 11(c) complaints of discrimination must be filed within 30 days of the employer’s discriminatory action.

Reporting Fatalities, Injury and Illness Information [1904.39]

Within eight (8) hours after a work-related death of an employee or the hospitalization of three or more employees from a work-related incident, the employer must report the fatality or multiple hospitalizations by phone or in person to the nearest Area Office of OSHA.  Employers can also use OSHA’s toll-free number, 1-800-321-6742, to make the report.

Compliance Date [1904.43]

The use of the new OSHA 300 Logs, Form 300-A Summary, and Form 301 Incident Reports, began on January 1, 2002. 

Employers must use the Form 300-A for their yearly summary information, and must post this form from February 1 through April 30.

USES AND LIMITATIONS OF OSHA 300 LOGS

OSHA 300 Logs are valuable tools for workers and unions to use in evaluating the types, frequency and severity of workplace injuries and illnesses. This information, in turn, is invaluable in identifying the location and nature of workplace hazards that should be eliminated or controlled.

However, OSHA 300 Logs do not provide a complete and accurate accounting of all the injuries and illnesses experienced in a workplace. Not all injuries and illnesses are required to be recorded.  In addition, injuries and illnesses that may be required to be recorded under the recordkeeping rule are, in fact, not recorded by some employers. The following are examples of injuries and illnesses that may not be recorded on an OSHA 300 Log:

• musculoskeletal disorders that an employer does not accept as work-related,
• early signs and symptoms of some musculoskeletal disorders,
• many occupational illnesses (cancer and other illnesses) that an employer does not accept as work-related,
• work-related stress,
• many injuries that do not require treatment beyond first aid,
• injuries which result in lost time or restricted activity only for the day of the incident.

In addition, employer policies, programs and practices may discourage workers from reporting injuries and illnesses. Safety incentive programs that offer prizes to workers who do not report injuries and injury discipline policies that threaten discipline to workers who do report, have both been shown to decrease the reporting of workplace injuries and illnesses.

Unions should use additional methods to identify symptoms, injuries and illnesses that are occurring in the workplace. These methods include (but are not limited to) worker surveys, body mapping, and requesting additional information (such as workers compensation data, data from medical clinic visits, and results of hearing tests). Workers and unions can use their rights to information under the OSH Act and unions can use their rights to health and safety information under Section 8(d) of the National Labor Relations Act (or other applicable collective bargaining law) to obtain some of this information and data. Worker surveys and body mapping in particular are effective methods for identifying workers’ symptoms before full-blown injuries or illnesses develop. Hazards can then be identified and targeted for correction, and more serious injuries and illnesses prevented.

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