OSHA’s Injury and Illness Reporting Requirements: Forms 300, 301, and 300A

If you have reported a work-related injury to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on behalf of your company, an inspection by a compliance officer is almost sure to follow. That officer is more than likely going to ask that the company produce its OSHA 300 logs. Do you know what those are? Does your company have its logs up to date? And do you know that you will have four hours to comply with this request?  

OSHA Recording and Reporting Requirements

OSHA requires that covered employers record and report all work-related deaths, injuries, and illnesses, except for minor injuries that only required first aid treatment and that did not involve medical treatment, loss of consciousness, restriction of work or motion, or transfer to another job. Basically, anything involving medical treatment beyond first aid is reportable. Keep in mind that only those injuries or illnesses that are occupational or work-related need to be reported. 

From representing clients in a wide range of OSHA matters for more than 20 years, the OSHA attorneys at Pappas Grubbs Price PC know how important it is to an employer’s best interests to comply with these requirements. Fortunately, there are forms available for recording and reporting events. Enter the 300, 301, and 300A. 

Form 300 

OSHA’s Form 300 is used to log all work-related injuries and illnesses. This is essentially a list of all reportable events for a particular year. On this form, you will briefly summarize each incident, including the employee’s name and job title; date of incident and where it occurred; a short description of the event, such as a burn or cut to the hand; a classification of the event based on the outcome; the number of days the worker was away from work, transferred from the job or restricted from working; or whether it was an injury or an illness. 

Form 301

OSHA Form 301 must be filled out for each reportable injury or illness incident. This form provides a more detailed description about each reportable event than what is included on Form 300. It calls for additional employee information, including address, date of birth, and date of hire; details about where the employee was treated, such as the hospital, emergency room or clinic and the name of the treating doctor; what the employee was doing just before the incident, such as climbing a ladder or performing computer entry; a brief description of what happened, such as the ladder slipped and the employee fell or the employee developed soreness of the wrist after prolonged computer entry; what object or substance harmed the employee, such as the ladder or keyboard; and a date of death if it was a fatality incident. 

Form 300A  

Form 300A tallies how many work-related injury and illness incidents the company had in each category for the year. Incidents are broken out by certain types of injuries or illnesses and whether they resulted in death, days away from work, job transfers or restrictions, or none of the above. The form must be signed by the highest-ranking appropriate company official, such as the safety manager. The form for the prior year must be posted for all employees to see by February 1 at the latest and kept posted until at least April 30.

Submitting Form 300A

Establishments with 250 or more employees that are currently required to keep OSHA injury and illness records, as well as establishments with 20 to 249 employees in certain industries with high rates of occupational injuries and illnesses, must submit Form 300A electronically, via the Injury Tracking Application, by March 2 each year for the prior year. This must be done, even if no reportable incidents occurred during the year. 

Additional Requirements

Each reportable event must be documented within seven days of when it was learned about. OSHA records for each calendar year must be kept on premises for a minimum of five years. When requested by a compliance officer, the records must be produced within four hours. 

Failure to timely and properly comply with recording and reporting requirements can result in hefty fines. It is important to keep your documents current and, more importantly, to keep your employees and your business healthy and safe. 

Assistance with OSHA Compliance

Pappas Grubbs Price PC can assist you with the complex OSHA compliance process and help you assert your rights throughout the OSHA inspection process. Few firms in the United States match our expertise in OSHA matters. Our OSHA attorneys have represented hundreds of clients in OSHA investigations, and we are able to perform 24/7 rapid response on-site coordination with our clients, often arriving before the OSHA inspector.

For assistance with your OSHA 300, 301 and 300A forms or another OSHA matter, contact the OSHA attorneys at Pappas Grubbs Price PC.