Employee Access to the OSHA 300 Log: The Next Business Day Rule

When an employee or representative asks for the 300 Log, you have until the end of the next business day to hand over a copy. Legal review is not a reason to miss that deadline, so keep privacy fields reviewed in advance.

Access requests become stressful when logs have not been privacy-checked.

Employees, former employees, their personal representatives, and authorized employee representatives can ask for your injury records (29 CFR 1904.35(b)(2)). A copy of the relevant 300 Log is due by the end of the next business day, with names left on except for privacy cases. An employee or former employee gets their own 301 by the end of the next business day. An authorized collective bargaining representative gets the “Tell us about the case” section of the establishment's 301s within 7 calendar days. The first copy is free. Government representatives get records within 4 business hours (29 CFR 1904.40). You must also have a reasonable procedure for reporting injuries and must not retaliate against anyone for reporting (29 CFR 1904.36).

Provide the relevant OSHA 300 Log by the end of the next business day when covered requesters ask. Access requests arrive without warning. If privacy fields and descriptions were not reviewed in advance, a next-business-day deadline becomes a rushed redaction exercise. The fix is to keep logs request-ready all year (privacy cases flagged, descriptions reviewed) and to log each request with its time and requester type.

HR safety partners often hear the sensitive details first, so privacy handling and a clear line between HR files and the OSHA log matter most.

Teams wait for legal review and miss the practical deadline.

The same log that employees can request is the one inspectors ask for, so descriptions, privacy handling, and reporting procedures are tested by both.

• Privacy concern cases require name protection before sharing the log.
• You may not remove names from the 300 Log before giving it to employees or their representatives, except for privacy concern cases.

A request arrives Friday at 4:45 p.m. The next business day is Monday, so the copy is due by the end of Monday. HR sends the log Monday morning, and the request log records both timestamps.

1. Log the request and the time it arrived.
2. Confirm the requester type.
3. Check the privacy fields.
4. Provide the relevant log by the end of the next business day.

What to keep in the case file:

• Date, time, requester, and requester type for each request
• What was provided and when
• The privacy review done before release
• Your written injury reporting procedure and how employees were told about it

300log produces an establishment's OSHA 300 Log, with privacy cases masked, or an individual 301 in a couple of clicks, so access deadlines are measured in minutes rather than days.

For a quick answer without an account, use the free deadline calendar.

• Authorized Employee Representative Access to OSHA Injury Records
• OSHA Injury Reporting Procedures: What Counts as Reasonable?
• OSHA Recordkeeping and Retaliation: What Safety Leaders Should Avoid
• OSHA Amputation Reporting and Recordkeeping: What Safety Teams Should Do First