Choosing an OSHA report form starts with a question: are you recording a case, reporting a severe incident or submitting annual data? These are separate tasks. This guide explains the federal requirements and links each rule to its official source.
This guide is general information, not legal advice.
Start With The Right Reporting Route
For a fatality or severe injury, use OSHA's official incident reporting page. Federal OSHA requires notification within 8 hours for a work-related employee death and within 24 hours for a work-related in-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye, subject to the rule's timing conditions and exceptions. 29 CFR 1904.39(a), (b)
For routine records, covered employers use Forms 300, 300A and 301, or equivalent forms. 29 CFR 1904.29(a)
For annual electronic submission, check eligibility and file through OSHA's Injury Tracking Application. This is a separate workflow from severe incident notification. OSHA ITA
Before using the federal instructions, check the authority covering your workplace. State Plans can have different or more stringent severe incident reporting requirements. Use OSHA's state directory to find the applicable agency. OSHA State Plan FAQs
Review our how to ask OSHA a question for a closer look at this topic.
Which Employers Must Keep Records?
If your entire company had 10 or fewer employees at every point during the previous calendar year, it generally has a partial exemption from routine OSHA injury and illness records. Written instructions from OSHA or the Bureau of Labor Statistics can still require records. The size test is company-wide, not a separate test for each job site. 29 CFR 1904.1(a), (b)
If the company exceeded 10 employees at any point in that year, records are generally required unless an establishment qualifies for the industry exemption. That exemption depends on the establishment's industry classification, rather than a single classification for the whole company. 29 CFR 1904.1(a)(2), 29 CFR 1904.2
Construction is not included in the listed partially exempt industries. Check the establishment's actual NAICS classification and the official list when assessing coverage. Part 1904, Subpart B, Appendix A
A routine-recordkeeping exemption does not remove severe incident reporting duties for employers covered by the OSH Act. 29 CFR 1904.1(a)(1)
What Forms 300, 300A And 301 Do
| Form | Purpose | Official Rule |
|---|---|---|
| 300 | Log of work-related injuries and illnesses | 1904.29(a), (b)(1) |
| 300A | Annual summary of the log's totals | 1904.32 |
| 301 | Incident report for each recordable injury or illness | 1904.29(b)(2) |
For covered employers, a recordable case must be entered on the 300 Log and 301 Incident Report within 7 calendar days after receiving information that it occurred. Equivalent forms must carry the same information, be as understandable and follow the same instructions as the forms they replace. 29 CFR 1904.29(b)(3), (4)
The general recording criteria include death, days away, restricted work or transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, loss of consciousness, and certain significant diagnoses. Work-relatedness and new-case criteria also matter. Use OSHA's decision guidance rather than treating every first-aid entry as automatically recordable. OSHA Recording Guidance
Review our OSHA 300 log instructions for construction for a closer look at this topic.
Severe Incidents: Check Both Clocks
The notification deadline and the time between the incident and its outcome are different tests.
| Outcome | Federal Notification Deadline | Outcome Timing Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Employee death | Within 8 hours | Death occurs within 30 days of the work-related incident |
| In-patient hospitalization | Within 24 hours | Admission occurs within 24 hours of the incident |
| Amputation or loss of an eye | Within 24 hours | Outcome occurs within 24 hours of the incident |
These deadlines and outcome windows come from 29 CFR 1904.39(a), (b)(6).
If the employer or its agents learn about the outcome later, or later learn it was work-related, the applicable 8-hour or 24-hour notification period starts on that knowledge, as specified in the rule. 29 CFR 1904.39(b)(7), (8)
In-patient hospitalization means formal admission for care or treatment. Admission solely for observation or diagnostic testing does not trigger that reporting requirement. 29 CFR 1904.39(b)(9), (10)
An in-patient admission involving treatment can be reportable even when the treatment falls within OSHA's first-aid list. Do not substitute the routine recordability test for the severe incident reporting test. OSHA FAQ 39-11
How To Make The Official Incident Report
OSHA accepts reports through its online reporting route, by contacting the nearest Area Office, or by calling 1-800-321-6742. If the Area Office is closed, use the hotline or online route rather than leaving voicemail or sending email. OSHA Report A Fatality Or Severe Injury
Have the business name, affected employees' names, incident location and time, a short account of what happened, and a contact person's name and phone number ready. OSHA Incident Reporting Instructions
The rule contains exceptions for incidents on commercial or public transportation and certain public-road vehicle accidents. The public-road exception does not extend to construction work zones. An event exempt from direct notification may still need recording. 29 CFR 1904.39(b)(3), (4)
Keep the official reporting route readily available to the person responsible for the decision. As a practical working step, save the confirmation or notes from the call with your incident documentation. This helps your own team distinguish a prepared draft from a completed notification.
Review And Post The 300A Summary
At year-end, covered employers review the log for accuracy and prepare the annual summary. A qualifying company executive must certify it. If there were no recordable cases, the summary still uses zero totals. 29 CFR 1904.32(a), (b)(2), (3), (4)
Post the prior year's 300A summary by February 1 and keep it up through April 30, where employee notices are normally posted at each establishment. Protect the posting from alteration or covering. 29 CFR 1904.32(b)(5), (6)
Uploading annual data does not replace workplace posting. Treat these as separate checklist items with separate completion evidence. OSHA ITA FAQs
Check Annual Electronic Submission Requirements
The federal ITA rules use establishment size and industry, not simply your company's total headcount.
- Establishments with 20 to 249 employees at any point in the previous year submit 300A data if their industry is in Appendix A to Subpart E. 1904.41(a)(1)(i)
- Establishments with 250 or more employees submit 300A data when Part 1904 requires them to keep records. 1904.41(a)(1)(ii)
- Establishments with 100 or more employees in Appendix B industries also submit the required 300 and 301 information. 1904.41(a)(2)
Covered annual submissions are due March 2 of the following year. 1904.41(c)
Use the coverage application linked from OSHA's ITA page to check your establishment. The agency offers direct entry, CSV upload and API submission options. OSHA ITA
Keep Construction Records Organized
A separate log is generally required for an establishment expected to operate for at least a year. Short-term establishments can be grouped in a log covering short-term locations, including by company division or region. 29 CFR 1904.30(a), (b)(1)
Retain the log, annual summary, incident reports and any privacy case list for 5 years after the covered calendar year ends. Update the stored log as the rule requires when new recordable cases or changed outcomes become known. 29 CFR 1904.33
Privacy concern cases use "privacy case" in place of the employee's name on the log, with a separate confidential identity list. 29 CFR 1904.29(b)(6), (7)
Where Osha Ask Helps
Osha Ask reviews job site video and photos and checks what it sees against OSHA requirements. It flags hazards and missing safety measures so your safety team can act on them sooner.
Finding an open edge with no guardrail, a missing hard hat or a trench with no safe way out before anyone is hurt is the best way to keep injuries off the OSHA log.
Explore OSHA compliance software and AI video safety monitoring for construction to see how the checks fit your safety process. Use the official OSHA links in this guide for the agency's reporting instructions.
Book a demo to discuss video and photo review for your construction team.
Osha Ask is an independent software product and is not affiliated with OSHA or the U.S. Department of Labor.