OSHA Recordkeeping: How to Decide if an Injury Is Recordable
Quick answer: A work-related injury or illness is recordable on your OSHA 300 log if it results in death, days away from work, restricted work or job transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, loss of consciousness, or a significant injury/illness diagnosed by a physician. If the only care given is on OSHA's first-aid list and none of those criteria are met, it's not recordable. Try our free recordability decision tool to walk a case through in under a minute.
Two questions decide almost every case
OSHA recordkeeping (29 CFR 1904) feels complicated, but most cases come down to two questions in order:
- 1. Is it work-related? Did an event or exposure in the work environment cause or contribute to the injury/illness, or significantly aggravate a pre-existing condition? Work-relatedness is presumed for things that happen at work — but there are exceptions (below).
- 2. Does it meet the general recording criteria? If it's work-related and a new case, you record it when it crosses any one of the thresholds in the next section.
The general recording criteria (1904.7)
Record the case if it results in any of these:
- Death — always recordable (and report a work-related fatality to OSHA within 8 hours).
- Days away from work — one or more calendar days away beyond the day of injury.
- Restricted work or transfer to another job — the worker can't do their routine job functions or a full shift, or is moved to another job.
- Medical treatment beyond first aid — anything not on the first-aid list (see below).
- Loss of consciousness — recordable regardless of treatment.
- A significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional — e.g., a fractured or cracked bone, a punctured eardrum, cancer, or a chronic irreversible disease, even with no other consequence.
What counts as "first aid"
This is where most mistakes happen. "Medical treatment" is care beyond first aid — and OSHA defines first aid as a specific, closed list. If the treatment is on the list, it does not by itself make the case recordable:
- Non-prescription medication at non-prescription strength
- Tetanus immunizations
- Cleaning, flushing, or soaking surface wounds; wound coverings (bandages, butterfly/Steri-Strips)
- Hot or cold therapy; non-rigid support (elastic bandages, wraps, back belts)
- Temporary immobilization for transport (splints, slings, neck collars)
- Draining a blister; drilling a nail to relieve pressure; eye patches; removing splinters or foreign material from areas other than the eye by simple means; eye irrigation/cotton swab
- Finger guards; massages; fluids for heat stress
Sutures, prescription medication, physical therapy, and rigid immobilization (e.g., a cast) are beyond first aid — and make a work-related case recordable.
Work-relatedness and its exceptions
A case is presumed work-related if the event or exposure happened in the work environment. But 1904.5(b)(2) lists exceptions — for example, an injury while eating personal food, present as a member of the public, from a voluntary wellness activity, or solely from a personal task unrelated to work. If an exception applies, it's not work-related and not recordable.
Special cases to know
- Needlesticks and sharps contaminated with blood or other potentially infectious material are recordable.
- Hearing loss is recordable when a Standard Threshold Shift (STS) occurs and total hearing level is 25 dB or more above audiometric zero.
- Tuberculosis from a known work exposure is recordable.
- Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) follow the general criteria — there's no separate MSD column, but they're recorded like any other case.
Which 300-log column?
Once recordable, classify the most serious outcome: Column G (death), H (days away), I (job transfer/restriction), or J (other recordable cases). Then track days away/restricted as the case develops — the classification can change.
Try the free decision tool
Stop second-guessing. Our Is It OSHA Recordable? tool walks you through the 1904 criteria and tells you whether to record the case and in which column — in under a minute.
Key takeaways
✓ Two questions: is it work-related, and does it meet the recording criteria?
✓ Record on death, days away, restriction/transfer, treatment beyond first aid, loss of consciousness, or a significant diagnosis.
✓ "First aid" is a closed list — anything beyond it is medical treatment.
✓ Mind the work-relatedness exceptions and the special cases (needlesticks, STS, TB).
✓ Classify by the most serious outcome and update as the case develops.
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