New OSHA Injury and Illness Reporting Rules Effective January 1, 2024

Update 07/21/2023

Revised workplace injury and illness reporting requirements (29 CFR Part 1904) published today in an OSHA Final Rule take effect on January 1, 2024. OSHA "intends for March 2, 2024 to be the first submission deadline for the new information required to be submitted under this rule."  

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In this article:

What's in the new OSHA injury/illness reporting rule?
Industries in the new Appendix B
New FAQs added to 29 CFR 1904
OSHA Forms 300, 300A, and 301

See the full text of the Final Rule in the July 21, 2023 Federal Register.

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OSHA Injury & Illness Reporting and Recordkeeping 

With the exception of very low-risk workplaces (listed by industry code), OSHA requires most workplaces with more than 10 employees to keep records of workplace injuries and illnesses. In addition to recording work-related cases throughout the year, some employers must submit information about injuries and illnesses to OSHA on an annual basis (electronically).

The existing OSHA regulations for reporting injuries and illnesses (29 CFR Part 1904.41) require two categories of workplace or "establishment" to submit an annual summary of injury and illness cases:

• Establishments with 250 or more employees who are required to keep injury/illness records

• Establishments with 20—249 employees in designated higher-risk industries

OSHA's new Final Rule for injury and illness reporting:

• Continues to require establishments with 250 or more employees that must keep records of injuries/illnesses to submit info from the annual summary (Form 300A). (Updated)*

• Requires annual submission of info from Forms 300A, 300, and 301 from establishments with 100 or more employees in industries listed in a new Appendix B to Part 1904, Subpart E.

• Continues to require establishments with 20—249 employees in industries listed in Appendix A to Subpart E to submit info from the annual summary (Form 300A).

• Requires establishments to provide their company name with electronic submissions. 

*Update 07/17/23: In a reversal from its March 2022 proposed rule, OSHA decided not to remove the annual reporting requirement for workplaces with 250 or more employees covered under the regulation. OSHA received no comments in support of removing the rule, they say, while many commenters opposed the idea. OSHA also notes that the change promised gross cost savings less than $30,000. 

In Effect January 1, 2024

New OSHA Injury and Illness Reporting Rules 

OSHA's Final Rule revises the injury and illness reporting requirements for employers by adding a new category of workplaces—establishments with 100 or more employees in industries designated as very high-risk and listed in a new Appendix B to Part 1904, Subpart E. 

The Final Rule also re-arranges the reporting criteria in 1904.41, and revises some language to clarify the size categories for establishments that must submit annual injury and illness reporting.

# of employees	Submit info from...	New Regulation...
20—249 (and listed in App. A)	300A Summary	1904.41(a)(1)(i)
250 or more (and required to keep records)	300A Summary	1904.41(a)(1)(ii)
100 or more (and listed in a new App. B)	300A, 300, 301	1904.41(a)(2)

_{[OSHA Final Rule, Improving Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses, 88 FR No. 139, pp. 47254–47349, July 21, 2023.]}

Some Details Not Required in Reporting 

To preserve the privacy of employees involved in workplace accident and recordable incidents, OSHA will not require employers to submit the following information from Forms 300 or 301: 

Not required from OSHA Form 300: 

•    Employee name (column B) 

Not required from OSHA Form 301: 

•    Employee name (Field 1)
•    Employee address (Field 2) 
•    Name of physician or other health care professional (Field 6)
•    Facility name and address if treatment was given away from the worksite (Field 7)

The Final Rule also updates Part 1904 to replace “old” (2012) NAICS codes with newer ones (2017). Lastly, OSHA has been clear that they plan to publicize the injury and illness data reported by employers each year. After scrubbing any personally identifying info, OSHA intends to post the data to a public website.

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Current ("Old") OSHA injury/illness reporting rules

OSHA's current injury and illness reporting requirements for employers, which will change as of of January 1, 2024, shake out as follows: 

# of employees	Submit info from...	See 29 CFR...
250 or more (and required to keep records)	300A Summary	1904.41(a)(1)
20—249 (and listed in App. A)	300A Summary	1904.41(a)(2)

_{[29 CFR 1904.41(a)(1) and (a)(2)—Changes on 01/01/2024.]}

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Industries in the New Appendix B to Part 1904

Employers in industries listed by NAICS code in the new Appendix B to Part 1904 will be required to submit information from OSHA Forms 300A, 300, and 301.

To develop that list of industries, OSHA reviewed several years of injury and illness submission from employers, and “examined combinations of establishment size and industry hazardousness that…would provide the agency with information on roughly 750,000 cases of injuries and illnesses per year” (FR 87 18543).

Appendix B consists of industries that were listed on Appendix A and had a high average total case rate of injuries or illnesses, or TCR.

Some industries are listed by name in both Appendices A and B. Others are covered by a broad NAICS category in Appendix A and a more precise code in Appendix B. Appendix A lists Manufacturing (NAICS 31—33), for example, while Appendix B lists dozens of specific manufacturing sectors like dairy products (NAICS 3115), plastic and rubber products (3261 and -62), cars and car parts (3361, -62, and -63), and many others.

New FAQs Added to Part 1904

On top of revising the reporting criteria and requirements, OSHA has also proposed to add new Q&A style entires to its regulations in Part 1904, to clarify the changes the Final Rule makes:. 

This FAQ, added to 1904.41(b)(1) is especially helpful/clarifying. The text has been revised since the proposed rule version released in March 2022: 

Does every employer have to routinely make an annual electronic submission of information from part 1904 injury and illness recordkeeping forms to OSHA?

"No, only three categories of employers must routinely submit information from these forms.

The first category is establishments that had 20–249 employees at any time during the previous calendar year, and are classified in an industry listed in appendix A to this subpart; establishments in this category must submit the required information from Form 300A to OSHA once a year.

The second category is establishments that had 250 or more employees at any time during the previous calendar year, and are required by this part to keep records; establishments in this category must submit the required information from Form 300A to OSHA once a year.

The third category is establishments that had 100 or more employees at any time during the previous calendar year, and are classified in an industry listed in appendix B to this subpart; establishments in this category must also submit the required information from Forms 300 and 301 to OSHA once a year, in addition to the required information from Form 300A."

Addition at 29 CFR 1904.41(b)(1)—Effective January 1, 2024 (Emphasis & formatting Lion's)

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OSHA Reporting: OSHA Injury and Illness Forms 300A, 300, and 301

To record and report work-related injury and illness cases, employers make use of three forms provided by OSHA, Forms 300, 300A, and 301: 

• Form 300 is a daily log of work-related, recordable injuries and illnesses.  
• Form 300A is an annual summary of recordable cases, based on the 300 log.
• Form 301 is a detailed incident report created following any recordable injury or illness.  

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Tags: 29 CFR Part 1904, Injury and illness reports, osha, OSHA compliance