Recording Extended-time Injuries with the OSHA 300 Form

If an employee is away, restricted or transferred for an extended period of time, follow these guidelines for completing the OSHA 300 form:

• Enter an estimate of the days the employee will be away.
• Begin counting days on the day after the injury occurred or the illness began, and update this number when you know the actual number of days.
• The count of days away from work ends on the date the physician or other licensed health care professional recommends that the employee return to work, whether or not the employee returns earlier or later than that date.
• When there is no physician recommendation, enter the actual number of days the employee is off work.
• Include weekend days, holidays, vacation days or other days off in the number of days recorded if the employee would not have been able to work on those days due to a work-related injury or illness.
• When the number of calendar days away from work or days of job transfer or restriction is greater than 180, enter 180 in the “Total Days Away” column.
• If an employee leaves the company for a reason unrelated to the injury or illness, stop counting days away from work or restriction/job transfer.
• If an employee leaves the company because of the injury or illness, estimate the total number of days away or days of restriction/job transfer and enter that estimate.
• Log the number of days away only on the 300 Log for the year in which the incident occurred.
• If the employee is still away from work because of the injury or illness when you prepare the annual summary, estimate the total number of calendar days you expect the employee to be away from work, use this number to calculate the total for the annual summary and then update the initial log entry later when the day count is known or reaches the 180-day cap.
• Never split the number of days between years and enter two amounts for two different years. Only record each injury or illness once.