OSHA 300 log — who has to keep it, how to fill it out, and how to keep the next entry off it

Under 29 CFR 1904, employers with more than 10 employees at any time during the previous calendar year must keep the OSHA 300 log, 300A summary, and 301 incident reports, unless the establishment is in an industry OSHA lists as partially exempt (Appendix A to Subpart B). Employers with 10 or fewer employees, and those in partially exempt industries, can skip the routine forms — but every employer must still report fatalities, in-patient hospitalizations, amputations, and losses of an eye to OSHA, and must keep records if OSHA or the Bureau of Labor Statistics asks in writing.

Seven calendar days from the time you receive information that a recordable injury or illness occurred (29 CFR 1904.29(b)(3)). The same deadline applies to the Form 301 or equivalent report. If you're still waiting on information — for example, whether a doctor will prescribe medication — record the case once you know it meets a recording criterion, and update the entry as the case develops.

Five years following the end of the calendar year the records cover (29 CFR 1904.33). During those five years you must update the 300 log to add recordable cases you discover later and to reflect changes in the classification or outcome of cases already entered. The 300A summary and 301 forms must be kept for the same five years, although you don't have to update them.

Only for sites expected to operate for a year or longer. Short-term establishments — the typical construction project — can be covered by one 300 log, and you can keep separate logs for short-term sites by division or geographic region (29 CFR 1904.30). Wherever you keep the log, you must be able to produce the records when a government representative asks, and the rule allows four business hours to do it.

It helps you keep it, but the records stay your responsibility and it never files anything for you. The injury log in a signed-in OSHA Scan account keeps a 300 log for each site, totals the 300A, holds a 301 for every case, and prints equivalent forms, plus a CSV file in the upload layout OSHA's Injury Tracking Application uses. A step-by-step helper shows the 29 CFR 1904 rule behind each recording question, but its answer is a suggestion: you decide whether a case is recordable, a company executive certifies the 300A, and you post the summary and upload any files to OSHA yourself. OSHA Scan is not affiliated with OSHA. Separately, its photo scans review your work areas for visible hazards, like uncovered holes, ladder misuse, and cords across walkways, and give each finding a possibly related standard and a corrective action.