OSHA recordkeeping and reporting requirements appear straightforward, but the devil is in the details. Here’s a quick reminder of the main requirements.
Coverage
The recordkeeping standard (29 CFR 1904) requires you to keep records of occupational deaths, injuries and illnesses, and make reports to OSHA and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Small employers (10 or fewer workers) and employers in certain retail, service, finance, real estate or insurance industries are not required to keep these records. However, they must report any occupational fatalities or catastrophes that occur in their workplaces to OSHA, and they must participate in government surveys if they are asked to do so.
Forms
The regulations require you to complete three forms:
- OSHA 300 Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses,
- OSHA 301 Injury and Illness Incident Report
- OSHA 300A Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses (annual)
The 300 log must include injuries and illnesses to employees on your payroll as well as to other employees you supervise on a day-to-day basis, such as temporary workers or contractor employees who are subject to daily supervision by your organization.
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Work-Related
Section 1904.5(a) states that "[the employer] must consider an injury or illness to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition. Work-relatedness is presumed for injuries and illnesses resulting from events or exposures occurring in the work environment…."
Note that the work event or exposure need only be one of the discernable causes of the injury or illness. It doesn’t have to be the sole or predominant cause.
Section 1904.5(b)(3) says that if it is not obvious whether the precipitating event or exposure occurred in the work environment or elsewhere, you "must evaluate the employee’s work duties and environment to decide whether or not one or more events or exposures in the work environment caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition."
If you decide the case is not work-related, and OSHA subsequently issues a citation for failure to record, OSHA—not you—would have the burden of proving that the injury or illness was work-related.
New Cases
Only new cases are recordable. Work-related injuries and illnesses are considered to be new cases when the employee has never reported similar signs or symptoms before, or when the employee has recovered completely from a previous injury or illness and workplace events or exposures have caused the signs or symptoms to reappear.
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Restricted Work
An employee’s work is considered "restricted" when, as a 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 (job functions that the employee regularly performs 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 other licensed health care professional 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 worked.
However, you don’t have to record a case where, for example, the employee only experiences minor musculoskeletal discomfort and the doctor says he’s fit to work, but assigns a work restriction to that employee for the purpose of preventing a more serious condition from developing.
Tomorrow, we’ll talk about penalties for failing to keep proper records.