Do I Need an OSHA 300 Log? The Size and Industry Exemptions

Short answer: you need one if your company had more than 10 employees at any time last calendar year and the establishment is not in a partially exempt industry listed in Appendix A to Subpart B of 29 CFR Part 1904. Even if you are exempt, you must still report a work-related fatality within 8 hours, and an in-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye within 24 hours. Every employer owes that. Checked against 29 CFR 1904.1, 1904.2, 1904.37 and 1904.39 on eCFR and osha.gov, October 10, 2026.

1. The three questions

1. Did your company have more than 10 employees at any time last calendar year? If not, you are partially exempt by size (29 CFR 1904.1).
2. Is this establishment in an industry on OSHA’s partially exempt list? If so, that establishment is partially exempt (29 CFR 1904.2).
3. Has OSHA or the Bureau of Labor Statistics told you in writing to keep records? If so, you keep them regardless.

Partially exempt means exempt from keeping the 300 log, the 301 reports and the 300A summary. It never means exempt from reporting a fatality or severe injury (section 4).

2. The size exemption: 10 or fewer employees

“If your company had 10 or fewer employees at all times during the last calendar year, you do not need to keep OSHA injury and illness records unless OSHA or the Bureau of Labor Statistics informs you in writing that you must keep records under § 1904.41 or § 1904.42.” — 29 CFR 1904.1(a)(1)

• Company-wide, not per site. “The partial exemption for size is based on the number of employees in the entire company” (1904.1(b)(1)). Three shops of six people is an 18-person company.
• Peak, not average. You look at peak employment during the last calendar year; if you had no more than 10 employees at any time, you qualify (1904.1(b)(2)). A seasonal hire who took you to 11 for a week ends the exemption for the next year.

3. The industry exemption: Appendix A to Subpart B

“If your business establishment is classified in a specific industry group listed in appendix A to this subpart, you do not need to keep OSHA injury and illness records unless the government asks you to keep the records under § 1904.41 or § 1904.42.” — 29 CFR 1904.2(a)(1)

The appendix lists 82 four-digit NAICS industry groups. A few that small employers ask about, as they appear in it:

Do not rely on this extract. Check your own code against the full list on OSHA’s Appendix A to Subpart B page. Two details matter:

• Per establishment. “The partial industry classification exemption applies to individual business establishments” (1904.2(b)(1)), so one company can have an exempt location and a non-exempt one.
• The written-request exception. Even an exempt employer must keep records if OSHA, the BLS, or a state agency acting under their authority asks in writing.

4. The duty every employer keeps: reporting severe injuries

Both exemptions say it in their own text: all employers covered by the OSH Act must report a work-related fatality, in-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye (1904.1(a)(1), 1904.2(a)(1)). The deadlines are in 29 CFR 1904.39(a):

• How: by phone or in person to the nearest OSHA Area Office, by phone to 1-800-321-OSHA (1-800-321-6742), or online through OSHA’s reporting page (1904.39(a)(3)). If the Area Office is closed, use the 800 number or the online form, not voicemail, fax or email (1904.39(b)(1)).
• Timing limits: a fatality is reportable if it occurs within 30 days of the incident; a hospitalization, amputation or eye loss if it occurs within 24 hours of it (1904.39(b)(6)).
• What counts as in-patient: OSHA defines it as “a formal admission to the in-patient service of a hospital or clinic for care or treatment”, and says treatment in an emergency room only is not reportable.
• Exceptions: a motor vehicle accident on a public street or highway outside a construction work zone, and incidents on a commercial or public transportation system, are not reportable, though they are still recorded if you keep records (1904.39(b)(3)–(4)).

5. State Plan states

Some states run their own OSHA-approved State Plans. For recordkeeping, 29 CFR 1904.37 keeps them close to federal rules: State Plan states “must have the same requirements as Federal OSHA for determining which injuries and illnesses are recordable and how they are recorded” (1904.37(b)(1)). For other Part 1904 provisions, explicitly including industry exemptions and the reporting of fatalities and hospitalizations, a state may be more stringent than or supplemental to the federal rule (1904.37(b)(2)), and State Plans also cover state and local government workers (1904.37(b)(3)). So the recordability rules are generally the same, but check your state’s program before relying on an exemption. For which states run plans and how they handle the HazCom update, see HazCom in State Plan states, or OSHA’s State Plans page.

6. Exempt from the log is not exempt from OSHA

The 10-employee and industry exemptions cover injury and illness records only. A partially exempt dental office or salon still has to meet the Hazard Communication Standard for the chemicals it uses: the written program, labels, safety data sheets and training. That is covered in Does HazCom apply to small businesses?

7. If you do need a log

In SDSentry, a company admin records each case on the Injury log tab against the location where it belongs: the 300 Log columns (date, employee name and job title or a privacy-case flag, where it happened, the injury and body part, the classification, days away and days restricted, and the injury or illness type) and every Form 301 field (the employee’s address, date of birth, date hired and sex; the physician or other health care professional and treatment facility; the emergency room and overnight in-patient questions; the time work began and the time of the event; what the employee was doing, what happened, the injury and the object or substance; date of death; and who completed the report). Each SDSentry location is one establishment, so it prints a Form 300 log and a 300A summary per establishment and calendar year, and a 301 incident report for each case, each as a printable page laid out as an equivalent form under 29 CFR 1904.29(b)(4) that you can save as a PDF. A case can be edited in place, and every change is recorded in the account’s audit log. It does not submit data to OSHA’s Injury Tracking Application; covered establishments do that on OSHA’s ITA themselves.

Sources (checked October 10, 2026)

• eCFR, 29 CFR Part 1904 — Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (current text, eCFR up to date as of October 7, 2026; the part was last amended in 2024).
• 29 CFR 1904.1 and 1904.2 — the size and industry partial exemptions; Appendix A to Subpart B (82 partially exempt NAICS industry groups).
• 29 CFR 1904.39 — reporting fatalities within 8 hours and hospitalizations, amputations and eye losses within 24 hours.
• 29 CFR 1904.37 — State Plan recordkeeping requirements.
• OSHA, Report a Fatality or Severe Injury — 8-hour and 24-hour reporting, how to report, and the definition of in-patient hospitalization.
• OSHA, State Plans.

Educational information, not legal advice. Quotations and citations are from the current text of 29 CFR Part 1904 on eCFR and from osha.gov, both checked October 10, 2026. State Plan states can add to some of these requirements; check your state’s program, and confirm anything that matters for your business against the regulation itself.