OSHA Summary Logs Must Be Posted By Year End
Most employers with 11 or more workers, including part-time, temporary, or seasonal employees, at any establishment at any time during the year must prepare and maintain records of all occupational fatalities, injuries, and illnesses. The OSHA 300 Log, OSHA 301 Incident Report, and OSHA 300A Summary forms have to be kept up to date by every employer who is covered under the OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping rules. Employers in certain low-hazard industry groups are exempt from the standard recordkeeping requirements, including most retail establishments, finance, insurance, real estate, and service firms. As we approach the end of the year, businesses who are required to maintain OSHA logs must post a summary of their losses from February 1st through April 30th.
OSHA Form 300. The OSHA 300 Log contains a brief description of each recordable work-related injury or illness that occurred during the calendar year. (Download OSHA 300, 300A, and 301 Forms)
OSHA Form 300A. The annual summary is a list of injuries and illnesses that were recorded on the OSHA 300 Log during the previous calendar year. At the end of each calendar year, the employer must create, certify, and post the annual summary in a conspicuous place from February 1 through April 30 each year.
OSHA Form 301. The injury and illness incident report requires the employee's name, department, occupation, nature of injury or illness, and extent of lost time. The data must be recorded within 7 calendar days after receiving information of the event. There are privacy cases where the person's name must be omitted.
Record Retention. The employer must save the OSHA 300 Log, the privacy case list (if one exists), the annual summary, and the OSHA 301 Incident Report forms for 5 years following the end of the calendar year that the records cover.
Update old 300 Logs. During the storage period, the employer must update the stored OSHA 300 Logs to include newly discovered recordable injuries or illnesses and to show any changes in the classification of previously recorded injuries and illnesses. If the description or outcome of a case changes, the employer must remove or line out the original entry and enter the new information.
Access by regulatory agencies. Employers must provide authorized government representatives from OSHA, NIOSH, or a state OSHA plan with copies of the injury and illness records within 4 business hours of the request for the records.
G&A Partners maintains OSHA 300 and 300A for all of their clients. Forms will be distributed to all clients beginning the second week of January 2011.