A recordable injury is a work-related injury or illness serious enough that your employer is required to document it on official OSHA logs. Not every workplace injury qualifies. A paper cut, a minor bruise, or a scrape treated with a bandage typically doesn’t make the list. The distinction comes down to six specific outcomes defined by federal regulations, and the line between recordable and non-recordable often hinges on the type of medical care the injury required.
The Six Criteria That Make an Injury Recordable
Under OSHA’s recordkeeping standard, a work-related injury or illness is recordable if it results in any one of the following:
- Death
- Days away from work
- Restricted work or transfer to another job
- Medical treatment beyond first aid
- Loss of consciousness
- A significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed healthcare professional
Only one of these needs to apply. If a worker passes out briefly on the job but feels fine afterward and receives no medical treatment, the case is still recordable because loss of consciousness alone triggers it. Similarly, a diagnosed fracture is recordable even if the worker never misses a day, because it qualifies as a significant diagnosed injury.
Medical Treatment vs. First Aid
This is where most of the confusion lives. The difference between “first aid” and “medical treatment” determines whether many injuries cross the recordable threshold. OSHA maintains a specific, closed list of what counts as first aid. If the care provided isn’t on this list, it’s considered medical treatment, and the injury becomes recordable.
What Counts as First Aid
The following are all considered first aid, no matter who provides them:
- Non-prescription medications at nonprescription strength
- Tetanus shots (but not other immunizations like hepatitis B or rabies vaccines)
- Cleaning, flushing, or soaking surface wounds
- Bandages, gauze pads, butterfly bandages, or adhesive strips
- Hot or cold therapy
- Elastic bandages, wraps, or non-rigid back belts
- Temporary splints, slings, or neck collars used during transport
- Draining a blister or drilling a nail to relieve pressure
- Eye patches
- Removing something from the eye with irrigation or a cotton swab
- Removing splinters with tweezers or irrigation
- Finger guards
- Massage
- Drinking fluids for heat stress
What Pushes It Into Medical Treatment
Stitches, staples, or any wound-closing device beyond butterfly bandages crosses the line. So does a rigid brace, a cast, or any device designed to immobilize part of the body. Physical therapy and chiropractic treatment count as medical treatment. Hepatitis B and rabies vaccines count. Prescription medications count.
One nuance worth knowing: simply visiting a doctor doesn’t make an injury recordable. Visits solely for observation, counseling, or diagnostic procedures like X-rays and blood tests are not considered medical treatment. The recordable trigger is the treatment itself, not the visit.
The Over-the-Counter Drug Rule
If a doctor writes a prescription for an over-the-counter medication, even at a higher-than-recommended dose, OSHA still considers that first aid. A physician prescribing 2,400 mg of ibuprofen daily (double the standard OTC dose) does not make the case recordable. Any use of a nonprescription medication is first aid for recordkeeping purposes, regardless of who recommended it or at what strength.
The Injury Must Be Work-Related
An injury is presumed work-related if it happens in the work environment, but OSHA carves out several exceptions. You don’t need to record an injury if:
- The employee was at the workplace as a member of the general public, not as a worker
- Symptoms surfaced at work but resulted entirely from something outside of work
- The injury came from voluntary participation in a wellness program, fitness activity, or recreational event like a company softball game
- The employee was hurt while eating, drinking, or preparing personal food (choking on a sandwich at your desk is not recordable, but getting sick from employer-supplied food is)
- The employee was doing personal tasks outside assigned working hours
- The injury resulted from personal grooming, self-medication for a non-work condition, or was intentionally self-inflicted
- A motor vehicle accident occurred on a company parking lot or access road while commuting
- The illness is a common cold or flu (though contagious diseases like tuberculosis or hepatitis A contracted at work are recordable)
- The condition is a mental illness, unless the employee voluntarily provides a professional opinion stating it’s work-related
Recordable vs. Reportable
These two terms sound interchangeable but carry different obligations. Recording means documenting the injury on OSHA forms (the 300 Log, 300A Summary, and 301 Incident Report) that the employer keeps on file. Reporting means directly notifying OSHA, and it applies only to the most severe events.
All employers, regardless of size or industry, must report a work-related fatality to OSHA within 8 hours. They must report an in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye within 24 hours. These reporting obligations exist even for businesses that are otherwise exempt from routine recordkeeping.
Most recordable injuries never need to be reported to OSHA at all. A broken wrist that leads to restricted duty goes on the 300 Log but doesn’t trigger a phone call to the agency. The reporting requirement kicks in only for those four severe outcomes: death, hospitalization, amputation, or eye loss.
Who Has to Keep Records
Most employers with more than 10 employees at any point during the previous year must maintain OSHA injury and illness records. Certain low-hazard industries are exempt from routine recordkeeping, though they still must comply with reporting requirements for severe incidents.
Employers must enter each recordable case on the OSHA 300 Log within seven calendar days of learning about it. At the end of the year, they compile a summary on the 300A form, which must be posted in the workplace from February 1 through April 30.
Electronic submission requirements depend on establishment size. Workplaces with 100 or more employees in certain designated industries must electronically submit data from their 300 Log, 301 forms, and 300A Summary. Establishments that peaked below 20 employees don’t need to submit electronically at all. Those in between (20 to 249 employees) only submit the 300A Summary, and only if their industry is on OSHA’s designated list.
Why It Matters
Recordable injury rates directly affect a company’s reputation, insurance costs, and ability to win contracts. Many industries use a metric called the Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR), calculated from these logs, as a benchmark for safety performance. A high rate can disqualify a contractor from bidding on jobs, especially in oil and gas, construction, and manufacturing.
Penalties for failing to maintain accurate records can reach $16,131 per violation. Since each missing or inaccurate log entry can be treated as a separate violation, fines add up quickly for employers who underreport. OSHA also treats falsification of records as a serious compliance issue that can trigger broader inspections.