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What is a recordable injury or illness?

A recordable injury or illness is a work-related case serious enough, under OSHA's recordkeeping tests, that it must be entered on the OSHA 300 log.

Also called recordable, OSHA recordable

What it means.

29 CFR 1904.4 sets three tests: the case is work-related, it is a new case, and it meets the general recording criteria in 1904.7 or one of the specific case rules in 1904.8 through 1904.12. The general criteria are death, days away from work, restricted work or transfer to another job, medical treatment beyond first aid, loss of consciousness, or a significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional.

First aid, as 1904.7 defines it, does not make a case recordable, and a near miss is never recordable. Recordable is a legal status, not a word for serious in ordinary speech. Reporting to OSHA is a separate duty: a fatality must be reported within eight hours under 1904.39.

Where it shows up on a job.

A worker strains a back lifting a box and is put on restricted duty for the rest of the week. Restricted work makes the case recordable, even though nobody went to the hospital.

Where this comes from.

Each source was read on 22 October 2026. Guidance is advice; a regulation is the rule.

  • 29 CFR 1904.4Code of Federal Regulations, Title 29. Regulation. The three recording tests.
  • 29 CFR 1904.7Code of Federal Regulations, Title 29. Regulation. The general recording criteria.
  • 29 CFR 1904.39Code of Federal Regulations, Title 29. Regulation. Reporting a fatality or severe injury to OSHA.

A plain-language definition, not legal advice. For a decision on your site, read the standard that applies to it.

  • OSHA 300 log

    The OSHA 300 log is the employer's record, for each year, of the work-related injuries and illnesses that OSHA's recordkeeping rule says must be recorded.

  • TRIR

    TRIR is the number of recordable injuries and illnesses a company had for every 100 full-time workers in a year, so that companies of different sizes can be compared.

  • incident

    An incident is an unplanned event at work that hurt someone or could have: a fatality, an injury, an illness or a close call.

  • near miss

    A near miss is an event that could have hurt someone and did not, often by luck; OSHA also calls it a close call.

In PanoraCompliance Ready (beta): Monthly work hours, recordability decisions made by people, and a scorecard across four years.

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