[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 5]
[Revised as of July 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR1904.29]

[Page 55-57]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
CHAPTER XVII--OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT 
                                OF LABOR
 
Part 1904_Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses
--Table of Contents
 
          Subpart C_Recordkeeping Forms and Recording Criteria
 
Sec. 1904.29  Forms.

    (a) Basic requirement. You must use OSHA 300, 300-A, and 301 forms, 
or equivalent forms, for recordable injuries and illnesses. The OSHA 300 
form is called the Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, the 300-A 
is the Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, and the OSHA 301 
form is called the Injury and Illness Incident Report.
    (b) Implementation. (1) What do I need to do to complete the OSHA 
300 Log? You must enter information about your business at the top of 
the OSHA 300 Log, enter a one or two line description for each 
recordable injury or illness, and summarize this information on the OSHA 
300-A at the end of the year.
    (2) What do I need to do to complete the OSHA 301 Incident Report? 
You must complete an OSHA 301 Incident Report form, or an equivalent 
form, for each recordable injury or illness entered on the OSHA 300 Log.
    (3) How quickly must each injury or illness be recorded? You must 
enter each recordable injury or illness on the OSHA 300 Log and 301 
Incident Report

[[Page 56]]

within seven (7) calendar days of receiving information that a 
recordable injury or illness has occurred.
    (4) What is an equivalent form? An equivalent form is one that has 
the same information, is as readable and understandable, and is 
completed using the same instructions as the OSHA form it replaces. Many 
employers use an insurance form instead of the OSHA 301 Incident Report, 
or supplement an insurance form by adding any additional information 
required by OSHA.
    (5) May I keep my records on a computer? Yes, if the computer can 
produce equivalent forms when they are needed, as described under 
Sec. Sec. 1904.35 and 1904.40, you may keep your records using the 
computer system.
    (6) Are there situations where I do not put the employee's name on 
the forms for privacy reasons? Yes, if you have a ``privacy concern 
case,'' you may not enter the employee's name on the OSHA 300 Log. 
Instead, enter ``privacy case'' in the space normally used for the 
employee's name. This will protect the privacy of the injured or ill 
employee when another employee, a former employee, or an authorized 
employee representative is provided access to the OSHA 300 Log under 
Sec. 1904.35(b)(2). You must keep a separate, confidential list of the 
case numbers and employee names for your privacy concern cases so you 
can update the cases and provide the information to the government if 
asked to do so.
    (7) How do I determine if an injury or illness is a privacy concern 
case? You must consider the following injuries or illnesses to be 
privacy concern cases:
    (i) An injury or illness to an intimate body part or the 
reproductive system;
    (ii) An injury or illness resulting from a sexual assault;
    (iii) Mental illnesses;
    (iv) HIV infection, hepatitis, or tuberculosis;
    (v) Needlestick injuries and cuts from sharp objects that are 
contaminated with another person's blood or other potentially infectious 
material (see Sec. 1904.8 for definitions); and
    (vi) Other illnesses, if the employee voluntarily requests that his 
or her name not be entered on the log.
    (8) May I classify any other types of injuries and illnesses as 
privacy concern cases? No, this is a complete list of all injuries and 
illnesses considered privacy concern cases for Part 1904 purposes.
    (9) If I have removed the employee's name, but still believe that 
the employee may be identified from the information on the forms, is 
there anything else that I can do to further protect the employee's 
privacy? Yes, if you have a reasonable basis to believe that information 
describing the privacy concern case may be personally identifiable even 
though the employee's name has been omitted, you may use discretion in 
describing the injury or illness on both the OSHA 300 and 301 forms. You 
must enter enough information to identify the cause of the incident and 
the general severity of the injury or illness, but you do not need to 
include details of an intimate or private nature. For example, a sexual 
assault case could be described as ``injury from assault,'' or an injury 
to a reproductive organ could be described as ``lower abdominal 
injury.''
    (10) What must I do to protect employee privacy if I wish to provide 
access to the OSHA Forms 300 and 301 to persons other than government 
representatives, employees, former employees or authorized 
representatives? If you decide to voluntarily disclose the Forms to 
persons other than government representatives, employees, former 
employees or authorized representatives (as required by Sec. Sec. 
1904.35 and 1904.40), you must remove or hide the employees' names and 
other personally identifying information, except for the following 
cases. You may disclose the Forms with personally identifying 
information only:
    (i) to an auditor or consultant hired by the employer to evaluate 
the safety and health program;
    (ii) to the extent necessary for processing a claim for workers' 
compensation or other insurance benefits; or
    (iii) to a public health authority or law enforcement agency for 
uses and disclosures for which consent, an authorization, or opportunity 
to agree or object is not required under Department of Health and Human 
Services Standards for Privacy of Individually

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Identifiable Health Information, 45 CFR 164.512.

[66 FR 6122, Jan. 19, 2001, as amended at 66 FR 52034, Oct. 12, 2001; 67 
FR 77170, Dec. 17, 2002; 68 FR 38607, June 30, 2003]