OSHA Recordable and Reportable Events: Know the Differences

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires most employers to record workplace injuries and illnesses. (Some relatively safe industries, and small businesses with fewer than 11 employees, are exempt from OSHA record-keeping rules.) But OSHA has different requirements for different types of injuries.

Some are considered OSHA recordable events, meaning they must be documented according to OSHA’s guidelines. Others require OSHA incident reporting, often within tight injury reporting timelines. This sort of work-related injury or illness is what industry insiders sometimes call a reportable (as opposed to recordable) event.  

Knowing the difference between OSHA recordable and OSHA reportable events to compliance with recordkeeping requirements. Keep reading to learn those differences. 

What is an OSHA recordable event?

According to OSHA standard 1904.7, non-exempt employers must record a work-related injury or illness if it leads to one or more of the following outcomes:

• Death
• Unconsciousness
• Sick days
• Medical care beyond basic first aid
• Changes in work responsibilities, including job transfer
• Professional diagnosis of a significant injury or illness

Additional OSHA standards place recording requirements on other types of injuries, including:

• Cuts or needlesticks that could introduce blood or infectious materials into the body
• Events that require medical removal of the affected employee, according to OSHA standards like those covering hazardous chemicals
• Tuberculosis infection
• Hearing damage, as described in standard 10

If a workplace injury or illness meets any of these criteria, OSHA considers it a recordable event. That means you have to enter it into your official injury log, OSHA Form 300, as well as an incident report, OSHA Form 301, both available for download here. You must submit injury or illness records (OSHA form 300A, available from previous link) to OSHA annually, but some types of injuries must be reported much sooner. These are the cases many refer to as “reportable incidents” as opposed to a "recordable injury." 

What is an OSHA reportable event?

According to OSHA standard 1904.39, more serious workplace injuries must be reported directly to OSHA.  This process goes outside the typical yearly Form 300 submission. These reportable incidents include:

• Fatality
• Amputation
• Loss of an eye or eyes
• In-patient hospitalization

If a work-related incident leads to any of these outcomes, OSHA requires employers to report them quickly. Deaths must be reported within eight hours. Amputations, loss of an eye, and in-patient hospitalization must be reported within 24 hours.

You have a few options for delivering these reports to OSHA. Following one of these serious injuries, you can:

• Call the nearest OSHA Area Office. Find yours here.
• Call the 24-hour OSHA hotline: 1-800-321-OSHA.
• Electronically submit OSHA’s Serious Event Reporting Online Form.

In addition to contacting OSHA directly, these reportable incidents should also be recorded on forms 300, 301, and 300A. So in a sense, a reportable incident is also a recordable event; but not all recordable events are reportable incidents. Reportable events (in-patient hospitalization, loss of an eye, serious work-related injury, and other causes for medical treatment that go way beyond first aid, including workplace fatalities) are much more critical occupation injuries, although either recordable or reportable events may require medical treatment.

It’s crucial to keep workplace injury and illness reports up to date. According to OSHA standard 1904.40, if an authorized government representative requests injury records, employers must submit them within four hours. Investigators and inspectors from OSHA may make these requests, and if your records aren’t complete, you’ll struggle to meet this narrow reporting timeline.

To learn more about OSHA recordkeeping and reporting requirements, consult an authorized workplace safety attorney. You can also dig into the standards themselves: OSHA standard 1904 lists employer requirements related to OSHA reportable events and recordkeeping. When you understand the difference between OSHA recordable events and reportable incidents, you can remain compliant with the standards while also generating valuable data that can help prevent future injuries or illnesses at work.