This free OSHA recordkeeping checklist is for EHS managers, HR teams and site leaders at US establishments covered by 29 CFR Part 1904. It runs one calendar year of the injury and illness log cycle: who must keep records, the recording decision for each case, Forms 300 and 301 within seven days, severe-injury reports, the year-end review, the executive’s certification of Form 300A, posting from 1 February to 30 April, electronic submission by 2 March and five-year retention. The output is a complete log per establishment and a dated record of every decision.
Part 1904 is a records rule, not a hazard rule. A site can pass every walkround and still fail it, because the errors sit in judgement calls made after an incident: first aid or medical treatment, a new case or a recurrence, a restricted day or a normal one.
Inspections of the workplace itself belong in the Safety Audit Checklist. This template starts where an incident report ends and follows the paperwork through to the year’s archive.
Trigger: a work-related new case that meets the general recording criteria, such as days away, restricted work or treatment beyond first aid.
Clock: Form 300 entry and Form 301 report within seven calendar days of learning of it.
Output: the 300 Log, 301 reports, a privacy case list and the annual 300A summary.
Trigger: a work-related fatality, or an in-patient hospitalisation, amputation or loss of an eye.
Clock: 8 hours for a death, 24 hours for the others. It applies to every employer, including those exempt from keeping a log.
Output: a report reference, plus the case on the log if you keep one.
Establishments that had 20 to 249 employees in a designated industry, or 250 or more in any industry that must keep records, file their 300A data by 2 March. Those with 100 or more employees in the higher-hazard industries of Appendix B to Subpart E also file their 300 and 301 case data, without names or addresses. OSHA has said it will publish some of what it collects.
State Plans run their own programmes. There are 29, of which 22 cover private employers, and each must be at least as effective as federal OSHA. Most mirror Part 1904, but not all: California requires a report within eight hours of any serious injury or illness under 8 CCR 342, and Minnesota asks for submissions beyond the federal ones. Federal ITA filing still applies in State Plan states.
Seven phases, one checklist per recording year, opened every January. Your answers decide which steps appear.
The first task names the recordkeeping lead and the company executive, and its applicability answer decides whether the recording phases appear.
Shown when the company must keep records. Each case is a row in a case table on the first task, with its own seven-day date.
Always shown, because the reporting duty binds exempt employers too. The answer on the first task shows the right report task with an 8-hour or 24-hour due time.
Due in January of the following year. The electronic submission answer here decides whether Phase 6 appears.
The first task is an approval assigned to the company executive named in Phase 1; nothing is posted until it is answered.
Shown only when an establishment must submit. The case-data task appears only for 100 or more employees in an Appendix B industry.
Each row links a federal requirement to the phase that leaves the evidence. State Plans and some industries add their own rules, so treat the table as a starting point, not legal advice.
| Requirement | 29 CFR | Deadline or test | Evidenced in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Partial exemptions | 1904.1, 1904.2 | 10 or fewer employees at all times last year; Appendix A to Subpart B industries | Phase 1 |
| Logs and covered employees | 1904.30, 1904.31 | One log per establishment; temporary workers you supervise day to day | Phase 1 |
| Recording decision | 1904.4 to 1904.7 | Work-related, new case, general recording criteria | Phase 2 |
| Specific cases | 1904.8 to 1904.11 | Needlesticks, medical removal, hearing loss, tuberculosis | Phase 2 |
| Forms 300 and 301 | 1904.29(b)(3) | Within seven calendar days | Phase 2 |
| Privacy concern cases | 1904.29(b)(7) | Six listed types; no name on the log | Phase 2 |
| Severe injury reports | 1904.39 | 8 hours (death); 24 hours (hospitalisation, amputation, eye) | Phase 3 |
| Year-end review and 300A | 1904.32(a)–(b)(2) | End of each calendar year | Phase 4 |
| Executive certification | 1904.32(b)(3)–(4) | Before posting | Phase 5 |
| Posting | 1904.32(b)(5)–(6) | 1 February to 30 April | Phase 5 |
| Employee access | 1904.35(b)(2) | End of next business day | Phase 5 |
| Government access | 1904.40 | Four business hours | Phase 1 |
| Electronic submission | 1904.41 | 2 March of the following year | Phase 6 |
| Retention and ownership change | 1904.33, 1904.34 | Five years after the year covered | Phase 7 |
Part 1904 itself was unchanged at the time of review. OSHA’s July 2025 deregulatory package withdrew an old proposal to add a musculoskeletal disorder column to the 300 Log, and a new enforcement directive, CPL 02-00-172, replaced the 2004 version in January 2025. Data for 2026 is due in the ITA by 2 March 2027. Check your State Plan and OSHA’s site before each cycle, because rulemaking can move. Nothing on this page is legal advice.
An annual recurring schedule starts each recording year’s checklist with its dates already set: the year-end review in January, posting by 1 February, the ITA filing by 2 March and the posting check before 30 April.
When someone answers the severe-event question, conditional logic shows the matching report task, due 8 or 24 hours from the time you recorded. Exempt sites see the reporting phase but not the recording ones.
The 300A sign-off is an approval assigned to the executive picked in Phase 1, and the checklist waits for it. Each recording decision, case table row and upload carries who did it and when.
CheckFlow is not OSHA’s Injury Tracking Application, an incident management system or a claims tool, and it does not decide whether a case is recordable. It schedules the cycle, holds the decisions and stores the signed forms as evidence. Plants that run inspections and maintenance rounds in CheckFlow for manufacturing can keep this cycle beside them.
The Safety Audit Checklist and the Manufacturing Safety Inspection Checklist find hazards before they become cases. The Healthcare Incident Reporting Checklist covers clinical incident intake, the ISO 45001 checklist the management system that uses these figures, and the Annual Compliance Calendar Checklist puts posting and filing dates beside your other deadlines.
Most employers with more than 10 employees. You are partially exempt if the whole company had 10 or fewer employees at all times during the last calendar year, or for any establishment classified in a low-hazard industry listed in Appendix A to Subpart B, such as offices of physicians, legal services or full-service restaurants. The industry test applies site by site. Exempt employers must still report severe injuries, and must keep records if OSHA or the Bureau of Labor Statistics asks in writing.
A work-related new case is recordable if it leads to death, days away, restricted work or a job transfer, loss of consciousness, or medical treatment beyond first aid, or if a clinician diagnoses a significant injury or illness. First aid is a closed list in 1904.7: non-prescription medicine at non-prescription strength, wound cleaning and bandages, hot or cold therapy, a tetanus shot and similar items. Stitches, staples, rigid braces and physical therapy fall outside it, so a sutured cut is recordable even if the employee is back at work the same day.
Post it by 1 February and leave it up until 30 April, at every establishment, even if every total is zero. A company executive certifies it first: an owner of a sole proprietorship or partnership, an officer of the corporation, the highest-ranking company official at the establishment, or that person’s immediate supervisor. A safety coordinator cannot sign in their place.
Only in three cases, judged on each establishment’s peak headcount in the year covered: 20 to 249 employees in an industry listed in Appendix A to Subpart E, 250 or more in any industry required to keep records, or 100 or more in an Appendix B industry, which adds the 300 and 301 case data. Every part-time, seasonal and temporary worker counts as one employee. The deadline is 2 March, and late submissions are accepted until 31 December, but a late filing is still late.
Five years following the end of the calendar year they cover, so the 2026 records are kept until the end of 2031. That covers the 300 Log, the privacy case list, the 300A and the 301 reports. During those five years you must keep the 300 Log up to date with newly discovered cases and changed outcomes; the 300A and 301 need not be updated.
14-day free trial, no card required. The Business plan is $10 per user per month after the trial. Full details at checkflow.io/pricing.
