How to fill out the OSHA 300 log, column by column

Prefer not to hand-total any of this? The free online 300 log follows exactly this structure and does the math itself. For the paper-and-PDF route, here's every column.

Before the columns: the header

Establishment name, city, state, and the calendar year. One log per establishment per year: a company with a shop in Mesa and a yard in Tucson keeps two logs, and jobsites roll up to the establishment the crew reports to. Getting this right early keeps the e-file and the posted summaries clean later.

Columns A through F: identify the case

• A. Case number. Any numbering system you like; most companies run 1, 2, 3 within the year. The number is what links the log line to its Form 301 and, for masked cases, to the confidential name list.
• B. Employee's name. Unless it's a privacy case, in which case you write "privacy case" here and keep the name on the separate confidential list.
• C. Job title. Foreman, laborer, glazier. The title at the time of injury.
• D. Date of injury or onset of illness. For injuries, the date it happened. For illnesses that build over time, the date of diagnosis or when you learned of it.
• E. Where the event occurred. Specific enough to be useful later: "Elm St jobsite, roof deck," not "jobsite."
• F. Describe the injury or illness. Three things in one line: the injury or illness, the body part, and the object or substance that caused it. "Laceration to left forearm from utility knife" is the pattern.

Columns G through J: check one box only

Classify the case by its most serious outcome (1904.7):

• G. Death.
• H. Days away from work. Any full day away beyond the day of injury.
• I. Job transfer or restriction. The worker stayed at work but couldn't do all routine duties or a full shift.
• J. Other recordable case. Recordable on other grounds (say, medical treatment or a significant diagnosis) with no death, days away, or restriction.

One box, ever. A case with two days away and then a week of light duty is an H, the most serious outcome, with days recorded in both K and L. If a case worsens later, you update the line to the more serious classification; stored logs stay live for exactly this reason (1904.33(b)(1)).

Columns K and L: count the days

K is the number of calendar days away from work; L is the number of calendar days of job transfer or restriction. The counting rules (1904.7(b)(3)) are where Februarys go wrong:

• Start counting the day after the injury, never the day of.
• Count calendar days: weekends and holidays included, whether or not the person was scheduled.
• You may stop at 180 days total, and may stop if the employee leaves the company for reasons unrelated to the injury.
• The case stays on the year it happened, even if the days run into the next year.

Column M: the type

Check one of six: (1) injury, (2) skin disorder, (3) respiratory condition, (4) poisoning, (5) hearing loss, (6) all other illnesses. For a trades crew, the overwhelming majority are column 1 injuries; the illness columns exist for things like occupational dermatitis from cement or diagnosed hearing loss.