OSHA injury reporting requirements set two hard clocks for employers: eight hours to report a work-related fatality, and 24 hours to report an in-patient hospitalization, an amputation, or the loss of an eye. Those deadlines apply to every employer covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act, no matter how small. Alongside those urgent notifications, most employers with more than ten workers also have to keep standardized injury and illness logs year-round and submit some of that data to OSHA electronically each spring.
Severe Incidents You Must Report
A work-related death has to be reported to OSHA within eight hours of the moment you learn of it. The death must have occurred within 30 days of the workplace incident for the reporting obligation to apply.1eCFR. 29 CFR 1904.39 – Reporting Fatalities, Hospitalizations, Amputations, and Losses of an Eye as a Result of Work-Related Incidents to OSHA
Three other events trigger a 24-hour reporting deadline: the in-patient hospitalization of an employee, an amputation, or the loss of an eye. Both clocks run in real time. Weekends and holidays do not extend them.1eCFR. 29 CFR 1904.39 – Reporting Fatalities, Hospitalizations, Amputations, and Losses of an Eye as a Result of Work-Related Incidents to OSHA
The definitions matter, because they’re where employers most often get tripped up. “In-patient hospitalization” means a formal admission to the hospital. An emergency room visit where the worker is treated and sent home is not reportable on that basis. “Amputation” covers more than losing a full limb: it includes partial fingertip amputations, with or without bone loss, and surgical amputations made necessary by irreparable damage from a workplace injury. It does not include avulsions, degloving injuries, or broken teeth.1eCFR. 29 CFR 1904.39 – Reporting Fatalities, Hospitalizations, Amputations, and Losses of an Eye as a Result of Work-Related Incidents to OSHA
The obligation to report these severe events applies to every covered employer. Being exempt from routine recordkeeping (see below) does not get you out of the eight-hour and 24-hour notifications.2Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Recordkeeping
How to Make the Report
You have three ways to reach OSHA:
- Call or text the nearest OSHA Area Office.
- Call the national hotline at 1-800-321-OSHA (1-800-321-6742).
- Use the online reporting form at osha.gov.
All three channels satisfy the deadline as long as the report goes in on time.1eCFR. 29 CFR 1904.39 – Reporting Fatalities, Hospitalizations, Amputations, and Losses of an Eye as a Result of Work-Related Incidents to OSHA
After you report, expect follow-up. That might mean a phone call for additional documents, or it might mean a scheduled on-site inspection. Getting the notification in quickly matters not just for compliance, but because it allows investigators to examine the scene before conditions change.
State Plans With Stricter Deadlines
About half of all states and territories run their own OSHA-approved safety programs, and several impose tighter reporting rules than the federal defaults. Alaska, Virginia, and Washington require all four event types, not just fatalities, to be reported within eight hours. California requires an eight-hour report for any fatality or “serious injury or illness,” a category that includes hospitalizations lasting 24 hours or more and injuries causing permanent disfigurement. Utah broadens the eight-hour window to cover any disabling or significant injury.3Occupational Safety and Health Administration. State Plan Adoption of OSHA’s Revised Reporting Requirements
Federal rules are the floor, not the ceiling. If your workplace is in a state-plan state, check the local requirements before your reporting policy is tested by an actual incident.
Penalties for Missing a Report
OSHA adjusts its penalty amounts for inflation each January. As of the January 15, 2025 adjustment, the maximum penalty for a serious, other-than-serious, or posting violation is $16,550 per violation. For willful or repeated violations, the ceiling is $165,514 per violation.4Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA Penalties
Failing to report a fatality or severe injury on time is typically treated as a serious or willful violation, depending on the circumstances. A single late report can carry a five-figure fine, and repeat failures compound quickly. That risk is why it pays to designate someone in the organization who knows the reporting deadlines cold and has after-hours access to the hotline number.
Ongoing Recordkeeping That Runs Alongside Reporting
Reporting a severe event is separate from the routine obligation to log workplace injuries and illnesses. Most employers have to do both.
An injury or illness is recordable when it results in death, days away from work, restricted duty or a job transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, loss of consciousness, or a significant diagnosed condition such as a fractured or cracked bone, a punctured eardrum, cancer, or a chronic irreversible disease.5eCFR. 29 CFR 1904.7 – General Recording Criteria
Recordable cases go on three forms:6Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA Injury and Illness Recordkeeping Forms
- Form 300, a running log of every recordable case during the calendar year.
- Form 301, a detailed incident report for each case.
- Form 300A, a year-end summary that a company executive must sign to certify.
Form 300A must be posted in a visible workplace location from February 1 through April 30 of the following year.6Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA Injury and Illness Recordkeeping Forms Records must be retained for five years after the end of the calendar year they cover, and the stored Form 300 has to be updated during that period to reflect newly discovered cases or changes in previously recorded ones.7eCFR. 29 CFR 1904.33 – Retention and Updating
Electronic Submission to OSHA
Some employers also have to submit their recordkeeping data to OSHA electronically through the Injury Tracking Application. Which forms you submit depends on your establishment’s size and industry:
- Establishments with 250 or more employees submit Form 300A data.
- Establishments with 20 to 249 employees in higher-hazard industries listed in Appendix A to Subpart E submit Form 300A data.
- Establishments with 100 or more employees in designated industries listed in Appendix B to Subpart E submit data from all three forms.
The deadline for all electronic submissions is March 2 of the year after the calendar year covered.8eCFR. 29 CFR 1904.41 – Electronic Submission of Employer Identification Number (EIN) and Injury and Illness Records to OSHA
Who Is Exempt from Routine Recordkeeping
Two categories of employers are excused from maintaining Forms 300, 300A, and 301. First, companies that had ten or fewer employees at all times during the previous calendar year. The count is measured across the entire company, not by individual location. Second, businesses in certain low-hazard industries listed in Appendix A to Subpart B of Part 1904, identified by their North American Industry Classification System codes, regardless of size.9eCFR. 29 CFR Part 1904 – Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses
Two limits on those exemptions are worth keeping in mind. Neither one relieves you of the eight-hour and 24-hour severe-incident reporting duties. And if OSHA or the Bureau of Labor Statistics sends a written request for records, the exemption disappears for that period.2Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Recordkeeping Establishments with 19 or fewer employees, and those in the same low-hazard industries listed in Appendix A to Subpart B, are also exempt from the electronic reporting requirement above.10Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Injury Tracking Application (ITA)
You Cannot Retaliate Against a Worker Who Reports
Your internal process for workers to report injuries has to be reasonable and accessible, and it cannot discourage anyone from using it. Employees must be told they have the right to report work-related injuries and that retaliation for doing so is illegal.11eCFR. 29 CFR 1904.35 – Employee Involvement
Section 11(c) of the OSH Act prohibits firing, demoting, disciplining, or otherwise retaliating against an employee for reporting an injury, filing a safety complaint, participating in an OSHA inspection, or refusing dangerous work under certain conditions. An employee who believes they’ve been retaliated against has 30 days from the adverse action to file a complaint with OSHA.12Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Investigator’s Desk Aid to the OSH Act Whistleblower Protection Provision
Safety incentive programs are legal, but they need guardrails. A program that rewards an “injury-free” month is permissible as long as it doesn’t discourage legitimate reporting. OSHA recommends pairing rate-based incentives with programs that reward hazard identification and near-miss reporting, along with training that reinforces reporting rights.13Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Clarification of OSHA’s Position on Workplace Safety Incentive Programs and Post-Incident Drug Testing Under 29 CFR 1904.35(b)(1)(iv)
Current and former employees, along with their authorized representatives, have the right to request copies of the OSHA 300 Log and 300A Summary for any establishment they work or worked in. You must provide the copies by the end of the next business day, and you cannot remove employee names from the 300 Log before handing it over.11eCFR. 29 CFR 1904.35 – Employee Involvement