OSHA Form 301 is the Injury and Illness Incident Report that documents the details of a single work-related injury or illness that an employer must record under federal OSHA rules. A covered employer completes one report for each recordable case entered on its OSHA Form 300 Log, or uses an equivalent report that contains the required information and follows OSHA’s instructions. The report records details about the employee and the medical care received. It also describes what the employee was doing before the incident and how the injury or illness occurred. Form 301 applies to recordable cases, not every workplace incident or near miss. Completing it is separate from filing a workers’ compensation claim or notifying OSHA about a severe incident. The form helps employers document cases consistently and supports accurate recordkeeping.
Table of Contents
- When Is Osha Form 301 Required?
- What Information Goes on the Report?
- When Must an Employer Complete and Keep Form 301?
- How Is Form 301 Different from Other Reports?
- Who Handles Form 301 for Contingent Workers?
- How Does Form 301 Protect Employee Privacy?
When Is Osha Form 301 Required?
First determine whether the employer must keep routine OSHA injury and illness records. Under federal rules, many employers with 11 or more employees must keep records, but certain low-hazard industries are exempt. Employers with 10 or fewer employees throughout the previous calendar year are generally exempt from routine recordkeeping. These exemptions do not remove the separate obligation to report certain severe incidents to OSHA. State Plan requirements may also apply, so employers should check the rules that govern the workplace. OSHA explains the federal recordkeeping framework in its recording requirements.
For an employer that must keep records, a case generally needs to be work-related and new. It must also meet at least one recording criterion. Examples include death, days away from work, restricted work or job transfer. Other criteria include medical treatment beyond first aid, loss of consciousness, and certain significant diagnoses or conditions. A minor injury treated only with first aid usually does not require Form 301 unless another criterion applies. Use OSHA’s specific rules to assess the case rather than assuming that every workplace event qualifies.
What Information Goes on the Report?
Form 301 gathers facts that describe an individual case. It requests employee and employment information. It also asks for details about the healthcare professional and any off-site treatment facility. The form asks whether the employee received emergency-room treatment or was admitted to a hospital overnight. It includes a case number so the report can be matched to the relevant entry on Form 300.
The narrative should explain what the employee was doing immediately before the event and how the injury or illness occurred. It should identify the affected body part and the object or substance that caused harm. For example, “hurt while lifting” leaves out useful detail. A clearer account would say that the employee developed lower-back pain while lifting a carton from the floor. State the facts without guessing about fault or adding details that are not known. OSHA provides the official recordkeeping forms and instructions.
When Must an Employer Complete and Keep Form 301?
The employer must complete Form 301 or an equivalent report within seven calendar days after receiving information that a recordable injury or illness occurred. The same deadline applies to the related entry on Form 300. An employer may keep the records electronically if its system can produce equivalent records when needed. An insurance or workers’ compensation form may serve as the equivalent only if it meets OSHA’s requirements for content, readability and instructions.
Covered employers generally must retain Form 301 for five years after the end of the calendar year it covers. A report for an incident in 2026 would therefore be retained through December 31, 2031. Federal rules require employers to update stored Form 300 Logs when case information changes, but do not require updates to stored Form 301 reports. Employers may still choose to update them. A secure document management system can help maintain the report and limit routine access to sensitive records. Employers should establish a process for filing completed reports and retrieving them when an authorized person requests access.
How Is Form 301 Different from Other Reports?
Form 301 provides the detailed account of one recordable case. Form 300 is the establishment’s running log of recordable injuries and illnesses. Form 300A summarizes the establishment’s record for the year and is subject to an annual workplace posting requirement. These forms serve related but distinct purposes. Completing Form 301 does not mean that the employer must submit the full report to OSHA each year.
Annual electronic submission depends on the establishment’s size and industry classification. Some establishments must submit specified Form 301 data through OSHA’s Injury Tracking Application by March 2 of the following year. The scope of required submissions depends on the applicable criteria. Severe-incident notification is separate. Federal OSHA generally requires employers to report a work-related death within eight hours. The general deadline is 24 hours for a work-related inpatient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye. Form 301 does not satisfy or extend those notification deadlines. A workers’ compensation report also serves a different purpose. It may substitute for Form 301 if it meets OSHA’s equivalent-form requirements, but a claim decision does not determine whether a case is OSHA-recordable.
Who Handles Form 301 for Contingent Workers?
For a contingent workforce, the organization responsible for day-to-day supervision generally records a temporary worker’s qualifying injury or illness. The central question is who directs the details, methods and processes of the work. Payroll arrangements alone do not determine who keeps the OSHA record. OSHA’s guidance says that a staffing agency records cases for workers it supervises day to day, while the host employer generally records cases for temporary workers it supervises. The two organizations should coordinate so the responsible employer records the case once.
For example, if a host warehouse directs a temporary worker’s daily tasks and the worker has a recordable lifting injury, the host will generally be responsible for the OSHA recordkeeping entry and corresponding incident report. A staffing provider may still need timely incident information to carry out its own responsibilities. OSHA describes the supervision-based approach in its guidance on recordkeeping for temporary workers.
In a TCWGlobal contingent workforce program, a practical process should identify who receives injury notices and who decides whether the case is recordable. It should also establish how the responsible party receives the facts needed to complete the report within seven calendar days. Assigning those steps in advance helps prevent delays or duplicate records. The process should reflect actual day-to-day supervision rather than assume that the organization handling payroll is automatically responsible.
How Does Form 301 Protect Employee Privacy?
Form 301 can contain personal and health-related information, so employers should control access and handle disclosures carefully. OSHA’s privacy rules for certain cases require the employee’s name to be omitted from the Form 300 Log. They do not automatically remove identifying details from the underlying Form 301. If information in the description could identify an employee despite leaving out the name, OSHA allows a suitably general description that still explains the cause and general severity of the case.
Access rights depend on who requests the record and which part they may receive. An employee or former employee may request their own Form 301 report. A qualifying personal representative may also request it. An authorized employee representative generally receives only the case-information portion. Employers should follow the applicable access deadlines and protect information when sharing records voluntarily. These record-specific requirements are one practical part of safeguarding employee privacy rights.
