This topic contains the following information:

• Recording the Incident
• Preparing the Annual Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses
• Maintaining Your Work-Related Injury and Illness Records
• Accessing Work-Related Injury and Illness Records

“Recording” involves creating and maintaining records of work-related injuries. Keep these documents as references; you will need them to prepare your annual summary of work-related injuries and illnesses, and if an inspection requires you to present your records.

• The Form 300 is used to record and classify work-related fatalities, injuries and illnesses, and to note the extent and severity of each case.

• Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses Log - Form 300
• Injury and Illness Incident Report - Form 301
• Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses Summary - Form 300A

You are exempt from recording if you employ 10 or fewer employees or if your organization is classified in a specific, low hazard North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) category. Statistical agencies use the NAICS to classify business establishments by their primary activity for collecting, analyzing and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy. The NAICS was adopted in 1997 to replace the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system.

You must only record injuries or illnesses if they are work-related. Work-related injuries and illnesses can include incidents away from the workplace if the employee was elsewhere because of or while engaged in a work-related activity.

Injuries that occur while commuting to and from work are excluded. For more information, see Injury Caused by Employee Misconduct. However, an injury that occurs while an employee is traveling on company business is considered work-related, unless the employee is engaged in purely personal activities.

Reports must be submitted:

• When an employee is seriously or fatally injured (see Reporting Serious Injury or Death) ; and
• When you receive an annual survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics or a specific request from Cal/OSHA.

Certain employers must also submit the Form 300A - Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses online each year. Under current Cal/OSHA regulations, this requirement applies to:

• All employers with 250 or more employees, unless specifically exempted by Title 8, section 14300.2 of the California Code of Regulations.
• Employers with 20 to 249 employees listed in Appendix H of the regulation.

The regulations require that employers submit their annual summaries by March 2 for the previous year. Instructions on submitting the summaries online each year are on federal OSHA's Injury Tracking Application website.

Recording the Incident

When a work-related injury or illness occurs, you must perform the following steps:

1. Record the incident on the Injury and Illness Incident Report - Form 301 :
• You must record the incident within seven calendar days of receiving information on it.
• You must keep separate records for each establishment.
• You must attribute the incident to the location where it occurred, even if the employee normally works at another location.
• At the employee’s request, you can omit their name and insert the phrase “privacy case” if the injury involves an intimate body part or the reproductive system, an incidence of sexual assault, mental illness, infection with HIV, tuberculosis or hepatitis, sharps and needlestick injuries with contamination from potentially infectious material, and other injuries or illnesses. Keep a separate log that identifies the employee by case number. You can use discretion when describing the nature of the injury. You must be able to produce this log, also known as a privacy case list, upon Cal/OSHA request.
2. Record a case number on the Injury and Illness Incident Report - Form 301.
3. Transfer the information from the Injury and Illness Incident Report - Form 301 to the Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses Log - Form 300.
4. Update the Form 301 and Form 300 as the injury’s or illness’ nature and its consequences become known.

Cal/OSHA offers information about Form 300, Form 301 and Form 300A - Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses at the Cal/OSHA website.

Preparing the Annual Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses

You are required to prepare and post a Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses - Form 300A from February 1 to April 30 of the year following the year that the form covers. The Form 300A summarizes the work-related injuries and illnesses that occurred at your organization during a calendar year.

Form 300A must reflect the nature and consequences of events during the year as accurately as possible. The annual summary must be completed even if no work-related injuries or illnesses occurred during the year. If none occurred, simply enter “0.”

For each establishment:

1. Prepare a separate Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses - Form 300A.
2. Make sure the annual summary is certified by one of the following people:
   • An owner;
   • A corporate officer;
   • The highest ranking person at the establishment; or
   • The immediate supervisor of the highest ranking person at the establishment.
3. From February 1 to April 30 of the year following the one to which Form 300A applies, post the Form 300A in a conspicuous place where you normally post employee posters. Form 300A cannot be altered, defaced or covered by other material. If you have employees on the payroll during the posting period, but they do not report at least weekly to the posting location, you must give or mail a copy of Form 300A to them.

Maintaining Your Work-Related Injury and Illness Records

You must keep the following records for five years after the end of the year that the records cover:

• Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses Log - Form 300;
• The privacy case list, if one was created for that year;
• Injury and Illness Incident Report - Form 301; and
• Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses - Form 300A.

During this five-year period, you must update Form 300 to include any newly discovered recordable injuries or illnesses. You must also show any changes in classification for previously recorded events. You are not required to update Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses Summary - Form 300A or the individual Injury and Illness Incident Report - Form 301 reports.

The six-month statute of limitations from the date of a Title 8 violation occurrence by Cal/OSHA no longer exists as related to record-keeping occurrences. A citation or notice for a violation related to Labor Code sections 6410 (b) and (c), including any implementing regulation or occurrence, continues until it is corrected, the division discovers the violation or the duty to comply with the violated requirement(s) cease to exist. The statute is silent on when the window is closed.

If you sell your business, you are responsible only for the period during which you owned the business. You must transfer all records to the new owner, who must save the records. However, the new owner is not required to update or correct them, unless they pertain to current employees for whom events were previously recorded.

Accessing Work-Related Injury and Illness Records

Employees, former employees and their properly authorized personal representatives are entitled to a copy of all of the following:

• The individual’s incident report(s);
• Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses Log - Form 300, with names of employees deleted for privacy cases; and
• Current or archived annual summaries.

You must provide these copies by the end of the next business day after the request.

An authorized employee representative, such as a collective bargaining agent, is entitled to a copy of the Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses Log - Form 300 for the establishment it represents. You must provide the copy to the requesting party within seven calendar days of the request. You must remove the following information from the delivered copy:

• Name.
• Address.
• Date of birth.
• Date of hire.
• Sex.
• Physician’s name.
• Treatment location.
• If treated in an emergency room.
• If hospitalized overnight.

Before disclosing Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses Log - Form 300 or Injury and Illness Incident Report - Form 301 reports in response to any other request, you must delete all personal identifying information unless you provide the information for the following purposes:

• To a consultant you hire to evaluate your safety and health program.
• To process workers’ compensation or other insurance benefits.
• To public health or law enforcement agencies, except where notification and opportunity to object under Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy standards apply.

It is unlawful for an employer to discharge or discriminate against an employee for requesting access to occupational injury or illness report.1

1. Lab. Code sec. 6310