Source: https://up.codes/viewer/osha-1904-recordkeeping/chapter/C/recordkeeping-forms-and-recording-criteria
Timestamp: 2019-04-18 20:53:44+00:00

Document:
1904.4(b)(1) What sections of this rule describe recording criteria for recording work-related injuries and illnesses?
1904.4(b)(2) How do I decide whether a particular injury or illness is recordable?
1904.5(b)(1) What is the "work environment"?
1904.5(b)(2) Are there situations where an injury or illness occurs in the work environment and is not considered work-related?
1904.5(b)(3) How do I handle a case if it is not obvious whether the precipitating event or exposure occurred in the work environment or occurred away from work?
1904.5(b)(4) How do I know if an event or exposure in the work environment "significantly aggravated" a preexisting injury or illness?
1904.5(b)(5) Which injuries and illnesses are considered pre-existing conditions?
1904.5(b)(6) How do I decide whether an injury or illness is work-related if the employee is on travel status at the time the injury or illness occurs?
1904.5(b)(7) How do I decide if a case is work-related when the employee is working at home?
1904.6(b)(1) When an employee experiences the signs or symptoms of a chronic work-related illness, do I need to consider each recurrence of signs or symptoms to be a new case?
1904.6(b)(2) When an employee experiences the signs or symptoms of an injury or illness as a result of an event or exposure in the workplace, such as an episode of occupational asthma, must I treat the episode as a new case?
1904.6(b)(3) May I rely on a physician or other licensed health care professional to determine whether a case is a new case or a recurrence of an old case?
1904.7(b)(1) How do I decide if a case meets one or more of the general recording criteria?
1904.7(b)(2) How do I record a work-related injury or illness that results in the employee's death?
1904.7(b)(3) How do I record a work-related injury or illness that results in days away from work?
1904.7(b)(3)(i) Do I count the day on which the injury occurred or the illness began?
1904.7(b)(3)(iii) How do I handle a case when a physician or other licensed health care professional recommends that the worker return to work but the employee stays at home anyway?
1904.7(b)(3)(iv) How do I count weekends, holidays, or other days the employee would not have worked anyway?
1904.7(b)(3)(ix) If a case occurs in one year but results in days away during the next calendar year, do I record the case in both years?
1904.7(b)(3)(v) How do I record a case in which a worker is injured or becomes ill on a Friday and reports to work on a Monday, and was not scheduled to work on the weekend?
1904.7(b)(3)(vi) How do I record a case in which a worker is injured or becomes ill on the day before scheduled time off such as a holiday, a planned vacation, or a temporary plant closing?
1904.7(b)(3)(vii) Is there a limit to the number of days away from work I must count?
1904.7(b)(3)(viii) May I stop counting days if an employee who is away from work because of an injury or illness retires or leaves my company?
1904.7(b)(3)(ii) How do I record an injury or illness when a physician or other licensed health care professional recommends that the worker stay at home but the employee comes to work anyway?
1904.7(b)(4) How do I record a work-related injury or illness that results in restricted work or job transfer?
1904.7(b)(4)(i) How do I decide if the injury or illness resulted in restricted work?
1904.7(b)(4)(iii) Do I have to record restricted work or job transfer if it applies only to the day on which the injury occurred or the illness began?
1904.7(b)(4)(iv) If you or a physician or other licensed health care professional recommends a work restriction, is the injury or illness automatically recordable as a "restricted work" case?
1904.7(b)(4)(ix) How do I decide if an injury or illness involved a transfer to another job?
1904.7(b)(4)(v) How do I record a case where the worker works only for a partial work shift because of a work-related injury or illness?
1904.7(b)(4)(vi) If the injured or ill worker produces fewer goods or services than he or she would have produced prior to the injury or illness but otherwise performs all of the routine functions of his or her work, is the case considered a restricted work case?
1904.7(b)(4)(vii) How do I handle vague restrictions from a physician or other licensed health care professional, such as that the employee engage only in "light duty" or "take it easy for a week"?
1904.7(b)(4)(viii) What do I do if a physician or other licensed health care professional recommends a job restriction meeting OSHA's definition, but the employee does all of his or her routine job functions anyway?
1904.7(b)(4)(x) Are transfers to another job recorded in the same way as restricted work cases?
1904.7(b)(4)(xi) How do I count days of job transfer or restriction?
1904.7(b)(4)(ii) What is meant by "routine functions"?
1904.7(b)(5) How do I record an injury or illness that involves medical treatment beyond first aid?
1904.7(b)(5)(i) What is the definition of medical treatment?
1904.7(b)(5)(iii) Are any other procedures included in first aid?
1904.7(b)(5)(iv) Does the professional status of the person providing the treatment have any effect on what is considered first aid or medical treatment?
1904.7(b)(5)(v) What if a physician or other licensed health care professional recommends medical treatment but the employee does not follow the recommendation?
1904.7(b)(5)(ii) What is "first aid"?
1904.7(b)(6) Is every work-related injury or illness case involving a loss of consciousness recordable?
1904.7(b)(7) What is a "significant" diagnosed injury or illness that is recordable under the general criteria even if it does not result in death, days away from work, restricted work or job transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness?
1904.8(b)(1) What does "other potentially infectious material" mean?
1904.8(b)(2) Does this mean that I must record all cuts, lacerations, punctures, and scratches?
1904.8(b)(3) If I record an injury and the employee is later diagnosed with an infectious bloodborne disease, do I need to update the OSHA 300 Log?
1904.8(b)(4) What if one of my employees is splashed or exposed to blood or other potentially infectious material without being cut or scratched? Do I need to record this incident?
1904.9(b)(1) How do I classify medical removal cases on the OSHA 300 Log?
1904.9(b)(2) Do all of OSHA's standards have medical removal provisions?
1904.9(b)(3) Do I have to record a case where I voluntarily removed the employee from exposure before the medical removal criteria in an OSHA standard are met?
1904.10(b)(1) What is a Standard Threshold Shift?
1904.10(b)(2) How do I evaluate the current audiogram to determine whether an employee has an STS and a 25-dB hearing level?
1904.10(b)(3) May I adjust the current audiogram to reflect the effects of aging on hearing?
1904.10(b)(4) Do I have to record the hearing loss if I am going to retest the employee's hearing?
1904.10(b)(5) Are there any special rules for determining whether a hearing loss case is work-related?
1904.10(b)(6) If a physician or other licensed health care professional determines the hearing loss is not work-related, do I still need to record the case?
1904.10(b)(7) How do I complete the 300 Log for a hearing loss case?
1904.11(b)(1) Do I have to record, on the Log, a positive TB skin test result obtained at a pre-employment physical?
1904.29(b)(1) What do I need to do to complete the OSHA 300 Log?
1904.29(b)(2) What do I need to do to complete the OSHA 301 Incident Report?
1904.29(b)(3) How quickly must each injury or illness be recorded?
1904.29(b)(4) What is an equivalent form?
1904.29(b)(5) May I keep my records on a computer?
1904.29(b)(6) Are there situations where I do not put the employee's name on the forms for privacy reasons?
1904.29(b)(7) How do I determine if an injury or illness is a privacy concern case?
1904.29(b)(8) May I classify any other types of injuries and illnesses as privacy concern cases?
1904.29(b)(9) If I have removed the employee's name, but still believe that the employee may be identified from the information on the forms, is there anything else that I can do to further protect the employee's privacy?
1904.29(b)(10) What must I do to protect employee privacy if I wish to provide access to the OSHA Forms 300 and 301 to persons other than government representatives, employees, former employees or authorized representatives?
This subpart describes the work-related injuries and illnesses that an employer must enter into the OSHA records and explains the OSHA forms that employers must use to record work-related fatalities, injuries, and illnesses.
The table below indicates which sections of the rule address each topic.
(Needlestick and sharps injury cases, tuberculosis cases, hearing loss cases, medical removal cases, and musculoskeletal disorder cases). See §§1904.8 through 1904.12.
The decision tree for recording work-related injuries and illnesses below shows the steps involved in making this determination.
Yes, an injury or illness occurring in the work environment that falls under one of the following exceptions is not work-related, and therefore is not recordable.
(iv) The injury or illness is solely the result of an employee eating, drinking, or preparing food or drink for personal consumption (whether bought on the employer's premises or brought in). For example, if the employee is injured by choking on a sandwich while in the employer's establishment, the case would notbe considered work-related.
(vi) The injury or illness is solely the result of personal grooming, self medication for a non-work-related condition, or is intentionally self-inflicted.
In these situations, 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 either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.
Death, provided that the preexisting injury or illness would likely not have resulted in death but for the occupational event or exposure.
One or more days away from work, or days of restricted work, or days of job transfer that otherwise would not have occurred but for the occupational event or exposure.
Loss of consciousness, provided that the preexisting injury or illness would likely not have resulted in loss of consciousness but for the occupational event or exposure.
An injury or illness is a preexisting condition if it resulted solely from a non-work-related event or exposure that occured outside the work environment.
Injuries and illnesses that occur while an employee is on travel status are work-related if, at the time of the injury or illness, the employee was engaged in work activities "in the interest of the employer." Examples of such activities include travel to and from customer contacts, conducting job tasks, and entertaining or being entertained to transact, discuss, or promote business (work-related entertainment includes only entertainment activities being engaged in at the direction of the employer).
Injuries or illnesses that occur when the employee is on travel status do not have to be recorded if they meet one of the exceptions listed below.
(i) checked into a hotel or motel for one or more days When a traveling employee checks into a hotel, motel, or into an other temporary residence, he or she establishes a "home away from home." You must evaluate the employee's activities after he or she checks into the hotel, motel, or other temporary residence for their work-relatedness in the same manner as you evaluate the activities of a non-traveling employee. When the employee checks into the temporary residence, he or she is considered to have left the work environment. When the employee begins work each day, he or she re-enters the work environment. If the employee has established a "home away from home" and is reporting to a fixed worksite each day, you also do not consider injuries or illnesses work-related if they occur while the employee is commuting between the temporary residence and the job location.
(ii) taken a detour for personal reasons Injuries or illnesses are not considered work-related if they occur while the employee is on a personal detour from a reasonably direct route of travel (e.g., has taken a side trip for personal reasons).
Injuries and illnesses that occur while an employee is working at home, including work in a home office, will be considered work-related if the injury or illness occurs while the employee is performing work for pay or compensation in the home, and the injury or illness is directly related to the performance of work rather than to the general home environment or setting. For example, if an employee drops a box of work documents and injures his or her foot, the case is considered work-related. If an employee's fingernail is punctured by a needle from a sewing machine used to perform garment work at home, becomes infected and requires medical treatment, the injury is considered work-related. If an employee is injured because he or she trips on the family dog while rushing to answer a work phone call, the case is not considered work-related. If an employee working at home is electrocuted because of faulty home wiring, the injury is not considered work-related.
The employee previously experienced a recorded injury or illness of the same type that affected the same part of the body but had recovered completely (all signs and symptoms had disappeared) from the previous injury or illness and an event or exposure in the work environment caused the signs or symptoms to reappear.
No, for occupational illnesses where the signs or symptoms may recur or continue in the absence of an exposure in the workplace, the case must only be recorded once. Examples may include occupational cancer, asbestosis, byssinosis and silicosis.
Yes, because the episode or recurrence was caused by an event or exposure in the workplace, the incident must be treated as a new case.
You are not required to seek the advice of a physician or other licensed health care professional. However, if you do seek such advice, you must follow the physician or other licensed health care professional's recommendation about whether the case is a new case or a recurrence. If you receive recommendations from two or more physicians or other licensed health care professionals, you must make a decision as to which recommendation is the most authoritative (best documented, best reasoned, or most authoritative), and record the case based upon that recommendation.
You must consider an injury or illness to meet the general recording criteria, and therefore to be recordable, if it results in any of the following: death, days away from work, restricted work or transfer to another job, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness. You must also consider a case to meet the general recording criteria if it involves a significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional, even if it does not result in death, days away from work, restricted work or job transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness.
A significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional. See § 1904.7(b)(7).
You must record an injury or illness that results in death by entering a check mark on the OSHA 300 Log in the space for cases resulting in death. You must also report any work-related fatality to OSHA within eight (8) hours, as required by § 1904.39.
When an injury or illness involves one or more days away from work, you must record the injury or illness on the OSHA 300 Log with a check mark in the space for cases involving days away and an entry of the number of calendar days away from work in the number of days column. If the employee is out for an extended period of time, you must enter an estimate of the days that the employee will be away, and update the day count when the actual number of days is known.
No, you begin counting days away on the day after the injury occurred or the illness began.
Yes, you may "cap" the total days away at 180 calendar days. You are not required to keep track of the number of calendar days away from work if the injury or illness resulted in more than 180 calendar days away from work and/or days of job transfer or restriction. In such a case, entering 180 in the total days away column will be considered adequate.
Yes, if the employee leaves your company for some reason unrelated to the injury or illness, such as retirement, a plant closing, or to take another job, you may stop counting days away from work or days of restriction/job transfer. If the employee leaves your company because of the injury or illness, you must estimate the total number of days away or days of restriction/job transfer and enter the day count on the 300 Log.
You must record these injuries and illnesses on the OSHA 300 Log using the check box for cases with days away from work and enter the number of calendar days away recommended by the physician or other licensed health care professional. If a physician or other licensed health care professional recommends days away, you should encourage your employee to follow that recommendation. However, the days away must be recorded whether the injured or ill employee follows the physician or licensed health care professional's recommendation or not. If you receive recommendations from two or more physicians or other licensed health care professionals, you may make a decision as to which recommendation is the most authoritative, and record the case based upon that recommendation.
No, you do not have to record restricted work or job transfers if you, or the physician or other licensed health care professional, impose the restriction or transfer only for the day on which the injury occurred or the illness began.
No, a recommended work restriction is recordable only if it affects one or more of the employee's routine job functions. To determine whether this is the case, you must evaluate the restriction in light of the routine functions of the injured or ill employee's job. If the restriction from you or the physician or other licensed health care professional keeps the employee from performing one or more of his or her routine job functions, or from working the full workday the injured or ill employee would otherwise have worked, the employee's work has been restricted and you must record the case.
If you assign an injured or ill employee to a job other than his or her regular job for part of the day, the case involves transfer to another job. Note: This does not include the day on which the injury or illness occurred.
No, the case is considered restricted work only if the worker does not perform all of the routine functions of his or her job or does not work the full shift that he or she would otherwise have worked.
If you are not clear about the physician or other licensed health care professional's recommendation, you may ask that person whether the employee can do all of his or her routine job functions and work all of his or her normally assigned work shift. If the answer to both of these questions is "Yes," then the case does not involve a work restriction and does not have to be recorded as such. If the answer to one or both of these questions is "No," the case involves restricted work and must be recorded as a restricted work case. If you are unable to obtain this additional information from the physician or other licensed health care professional who recommended the restriction, record the injury or illness as a case involving restricted work.
You must record the injury or illness on the OSHA 300 Log as a restricted work case. If a physician or other licensed health care professional recommends a job restriction, you should ensure that the employee complies with that restriction. If you receive recommendations from two or more physicians or other licensed health care professionals, you may make a decision as to which recommendation is the most authoritative, and record the case based upon that recommendation.
Yes, both job transfer and restricted work cases are recorded in the same box on the OSHA 300 Log. For example, if you assign, or a physician or other licensed health care professional recommends that you assign, an injured or ill worker to his or her routine job duties for part of the day and to another job for the rest of the day, the injury or illness involves a job transfer. You must record an injury or illness that involves a job transfer by placing a check in the box for job transfer.
You count days of job transfer or restriction in the same way you count days away from work, using § 1904.7(b)(3)(i) to (viii), above. The only difference is that, if you permanently assign the injured or ill employee to a job that has been modified or permanently changed in a manner that eliminates the routine functions the employee was restricted from performing, you may stop the day count when the modification or change is made permanent. You must count at least one day of restricted work or job transfer for such cases.
If a work-related injury or illness results in medical treatment beyond first aid, you must record it on the OSHA 300 Log. If the injury or illness did not involve death, one or more days away from work, one or more days of restricted work, or one or more days of job transfer, you enter a check mark in the box for cases where the employee received medical treatment but remained at work and was not transferred or restricted.
No, this is a complete list of all treatments considered first aid for Part 1904 purposes.
No, OSHA considers the treatments listed in § 1904.7(b)(5)(ii) of this Part to be first aid regardless of the professional status of the person providing the treatment. Even when these treatments are provided by a physician or other licensed health care professional, they are considered first aid for the purposes of Part 1904. Similarly, OSHA considers treatment beyond first aid to be medical treatment even when it is provided by someone other than a physician or other licensed health care professional.
Yes, you must record a work-related injury or illness if the worker becomes unconscious, regardless of the length of time the employee remains unconscious.
Work-related cases involving cancer, chronic irreversible disease, a fractured or cracked bone, or a punctured eardrum must always be recorded under the general criteria at the time of diagnosis by a physician or other licensed health care professional.
You must record all work-related needlestick injuries and cuts from sharp objects that are contaminated with another person's blood or other potentially infectious material (as defined by 29 CFR 1910.1030). You must enter the case on the OSHA 300 Log as an injury. To protect the employee's privacy, you may not enter the employee's name on the OSHA 300 Log (see the requirements for privacy cases in paragraphs 1904.29(b)(6) through 1904.29(b)(9)).
No, you need to record cuts, lacerations, punctures, and scratches only if they are work-related and involve contamination with another person's blood or other potentially infectious material. If the cut, laceration, or scratch involves a clean object, or a contaminant other than blood or other potentially infectious material, you need to record the case only if it meets one or more of the recording criteria in § 1904.7.
If an employee is medically removed under the medical surveillance requirements of an OSHA standard, you must record the case on the OSHA 300 Log.
You must enter each medical removal case on the OSHA 300 Log as either a case involving days away from work or a case involving restricted work activity, depending on how you decide to comply with the medical removal requirement. If the medical removal is the result of a chemical exposure, you must enter the case on the OSHA 300 Log by checking the "poisoning" column.
No, some OSHA standards, such as the standards covering bloodborne pathogens and noise, do not have medical removal provisions. Many OSHA standards that cover specific chemical substances have medical removal provisions. These standards include, but are not limited to, lead, cadmium, methylene chloride, formaldehyde, and benzene.
If an employee's hearing test (audiogram) reveals that the employee has experienced a work-related Standard Threshold Shift (STS) in hearing in one or both ears, and the employee's total hearing level is 25 decibels (dB) or more above audiometric zero (averaged at 2000, 3000, and 4000 Hz) in the same ear(s) as the STS, you must record the case on the OSHA 300 Log.
A Standard Threshold Shift, or STS, is defined in the occupational noise exposure standard at 29 CFR 1910.95(g)(10)(i) as a change in hearing threshold, relative to the baseline audiogram for that employee, of an average of 10 decibels (dB) or more at 2000, 3000, and 4000 hertz (Hz) in one or both ears.
Audiometric test results reflect the employee's overall hearing ability in comparison to audiometric zero. Therefore, using the employee's current audiogram, you must use the average hearing level at 2000, 3000, and 4000 Hz to determine whether or not the employee's total hearing level is 25 dB or more.
No, if you retest the employee's hearing within 30 days of the first test, and the retest does not confirm the recordable STS, you are not required to record the hearing loss case on the OSHA 300 Log. If the retest confirms the recordable STS, you must record the hearing loss illness within seven (7) calendar days of the retest. If subsequent audiometric testing performed under the testing requirements of the § 1910.95 noise standard indicates that an STS is not persistent, you may erase or line-out the recorded entry.
No. You must use the rules in § 1904.5 to determine if the hearing loss is work-related. If an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the hearing loss, or significantly aggravated a pre-existing hearing loss, you must consider the case to be work related.
If any of your employees has been occupationally exposed to anyone with a known case of active tuberculosis (TB), and that employee subsequently develops a tuberculosis infection, as evidenced by a positive skin test or diagnosis by a physician or other licensed health care professional, you must record the case on the OSHA 300 Log by checking the "respiratory condition" column.
No, you do not have to record it because the employee was not occupationally exposed to a known case of active tuberculosis in your workplace.
You must use OSHA 300, 300-A, and 301 forms, or equivalent forms, for recordable injuries and illnesses. The OSHA 300 form is called the Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, the 300-A is the Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, and the OSHA 301 form is called the Injury and Illness Incident Report.
You must enter information about your business at the top of the OSHA 300 Log, enter a one or two line description for each recordable injury or illness, and summarize this information on the OSHA 300-A at the end of the year.
You must complete an OSHA 301 Incident Report form, or an equivalent form, for each recordable injury or illness entered on the OSHA 300 Log.
You must enter each recordable injury or illness on the OSHA 300 Log and 301 Incident Report within seven (7) calendar days of receiving information that a recordable injury or illness has occurred.
Yes, if the computer can produce equivalent forms when they are needed, as described under §§1904.35 and 1904.40, you may keep your records using the computer system.
Yes, if you have a "privacy concern case," you may not enter the employee's name on the OSHA 300 Log. Instead, enter "privacy case" in the space normally used for the employee's name. This will protect the privacy of the injured or ill employee when another employee, a former employee, or an authorized employee representative is provided access to the OSHA 300 Log under §1904.35(b)(2). You must keep a separate, confidential list of the case numbers and employee names for your privacy concern cases so you can update the cases and provide the information to the government if asked to do so.
No, this is a complete list of all injuries and illnesses considered privacy concern cases for part 1904 purposes.
Yes, if you have a reasonable basis to believe that information describing the privacy concern case may be personally identifiable even though the employee's name has been omitted, you may use discretion in describing the injury or illness on both the OSHA 300 and 301 forms. You must enter enough information to identify the cause of the incident and the general severity of the injury or illness, but you do not need to include details of an intimate or private nature. For example, a sexual assault case could be described as "injury from assault," or an injury to a reproductive organ could be described as "lower abdominal injury."

References: § 1904
 § 1904
 § 1904
 § 1904
 § 1904
 § 1910
 § 1904
 §1904