OSHA recordkeeping exemptions come in two flavors: a small-employer exemption for businesses that had 10 or fewer employees at all times during the previous calendar year, and an industry exemption for establishments whose NAICS code appears on OSHA’s low-hazard list in Appendix A to Subpart B of 29 CFR Part 1904. If either applies, you don’t have to keep the Form 300 Log, Form 301 Incident Reports, or the Form 300A Annual Summary. Neither exemption, however, lets you off the hook for reporting fatalities and severe injuries directly to OSHA.
The Small-Employer Exemption
If your company had 10 or fewer employees at all times during the previous calendar year, you’re partially exempt from routine injury and illness recordkeeping. That means no Form 300 Log, no Form 301 Incident Reports, and no Form 300A Summary.1eCFR. 29 CFR Part 1904 – Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses – Section: Subpart B Scope
The phrase “at all times” is where employers get tripped up. Count every person on payroll: part-time, temporary, and seasonal workers all count. If headcount hit 11 for a single pay period last year, you don’t qualify for the exemption this year. A florist that brings on two extra hands for Valentine’s week can push past the threshold without noticing.
The exemption is also a moving status. A company with 10 employees this year qualifies for next year, but if it hires two more, records start the year after. And the exemption disappears entirely, regardless of headcount, if OSHA or the Bureau of Labor Statistics sends written notice requiring you to keep records for a workplace injury survey. When that letter arrives, you comply.
Temporary Workers and Who Counts as Yours
Temporary workers muddy the count in a specific way. OSHA assigns recording responsibility based on day-to-day supervision, not who cuts the paycheck. If you’re a host employer directing a temp worker’s tasks and controlling the hazards they face, that worker’s injuries go on your Form 300 Log, not the staffing agency’s. And when you’re figuring out whether you crossed 10 employees, you count every worker you supervised, including those temps.2Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Temporary Worker Initiative – Injury and Illness Recordkeeping Requirements
The Low-Hazard Industry Exemption
Some industries are partially exempt because their historical injury and illness rates are low. OSHA lists the qualifying NAICS codes in Appendix A to Subpart B of 29 CFR Part 1904. If your establishment’s NAICS code is on that list, you skip the Form 300, Form 301, and Form 300A obligations regardless of how many people you employ.3eCFR. 29 CFR 1904.2 – Partial Exemption for Establishments in Certain Industries
The list covers a wide range of businesses you’d expect to have relatively few workplace injuries: law offices, accounting firms, management consultants, insurance agencies, clothing retailers, florists, and many other service-sector and retail operations. It runs to dozens of NAICS codes and is worth checking directly in the regulation. Some industries that seem low-risk aren’t listed, and some that seem higher-risk are.
The Exemption Is Per Establishment, Not Per Company
This detail catches multi-location employers repeatedly. The industry exemption applies establishment by establishment. A corporation that runs a corporate office (exempt NAICS code) and a warehouse (non-exempt NAICS code) has to keep records at the warehouse even though the office is excused. Each location stands on its own.4eCFR. 29 CFR Part 1904 Subpart B – Scope
As with the size exemption, the industry exemption vanishes if OSHA, the BLS, or (in state-plan states) an authorized state agency notifies you in writing that you must participate in data collection.
What the Exemptions Don’t Cover
Here is the boundary that surprises exempt employers: being excused from recordkeeping is not being excused from reporting. Every employer covered by the OSH Act, whatever its size or industry, must report certain severe events directly to OSHA.5Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Report a Fatality or Severe Injury
- Fatality: Report within 8 hours, if the death occurs within 30 days of the work-related incident.
- In-patient hospitalization: Report within 24 hours, if the hospitalization occurs within 24 hours of the incident.
- Amputation: Report within 24 hours.
- Loss of an eye: Report within 24 hours.
In-patient hospitalization means formal admission to a hospital ward for treatment or observation. An emergency room visit where the employee is treated and released the same day does not trigger the clock, even if the injury looked serious.
You can report by calling your nearest OSHA Area Office during business hours, calling the 24-hour hotline at 1-800-321-OSHA (6742), or using OSHA’s online reporting form.5Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Report a Fatality or Severe Injury
Two narrow situations don’t require reporting to OSHA. Work-related motor vehicle crashes on public streets or highways outside a construction work zone go unreported to OSHA (crashes inside a construction work zone still must be reported). Fatalities or severe injuries on a commercial airplane, train, subway, or bus also don’t require an OSHA report, since other federal agencies handle those investigations.6Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Reporting Fatalities, Hospitalizations, Amputations, and Losses of an Eye as a Result of Work-Related Incidents to OSHA
If You Don’t Qualify: What Recordkeeping Actually Looks Like
Employers who fall outside both exemptions maintain three forms that work together:7Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Injury and Illness Recordkeeping Forms – 300, 300A, 301
- Form 300 (Log): A running list of every recordable injury and illness during the calendar year.
- Form 301 (Incident Report): A detailed report for each individual case, completed within seven calendar days of learning about the event.
- Form 300A (Annual Summary): A summary generated from the Form 300 data at year’s end, certified by the employer and posted in a visible workplace location from February 1 through April 30 of the following year.
All three forms must be kept on file for five years after the year they cover, and the Form 300 must be updated during that retention period to reflect any changes in previously recorded cases.8U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA Forms for Recording Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses
Penalties for Guessing Wrong
Recordkeeping failures are citable violations, and the penalty schedule adjusts annually for inflation. The figures effective after January 15, 2025 are:9Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA Penalties
- Serious or other-than-serious violation: Up to $16,550 per violation. This covers failures like not maintaining the Form 300 Log, not posting the Form 300A summary, or not recording a qualifying injury.
- Willful or repeated violation: Up to $165,514 per violation, for an employer who deliberately ignores the requirements or has been cited before for the same conduct.
Each unrecorded injury can be cited separately, so an employer who wrongly assumed an exemption applied could see penalties stack across every missed entry. Failing to post the Form 300A summary during its February 1 to April 30 window is a common citation and, at up to $16,550, an expensive miss for what amounts to putting a piece of paper on the break room wall.
State-Plan States May Draw the Lines Differently
About half of U.S. states and territories run their own OSHA-approved workplace safety programs. State plans must maintain recordkeeping and reporting requirements “substantially identical” to the federal rules, but they can be more stringent in certain areas, including which industries are exempt, how fatalities and hospitalizations are reported, and employee involvement provisions. State plans also cover state and local government employees, who aren’t covered under federal OSHA.10Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1904.37 – State Recordkeeping Regulations
If you operate in a state-plan state, check with your state’s occupational safety agency before relying on the federal exemption lists. The overall structure is the same, but a state’s exempt industry list, deadlines, or reporting procedures may differ from the federal version.