OSHA Log Retention: What to Keep for Five Years

Keep the 300 Log, privacy case list, 300A, and 301s for five years after the year they cover; 2026 records stay through the end of 2031. Keep the 300 Log current during those five years, not just stored.

The work is not over when the summary comes down on April 30.

Keep the 300 Log, the privacy case list, the 300A, and the 301 reports for five years following the end of the calendar year they cover (29 CFR 1904.33); 2026 records are kept through the end of 2031. During those five years you must keep the 300 Log current: add newly discovered recordable cases and update entries whose classification or outcome changes, lining out the original. Updating the 300A and the 301s is optional. If the business is sold, the seller transfers the records and the buyer keeps them for the rest of the period (29 CFR 1904.34).

Save the OSHA 300 Log, the privacy case list, the 300A summary, and the 301 reports for five years. The log keeps changing after the 300A comes down, and a year-end PDF that never gets updated drifts away from the facts. The fix is to treat stored logs as live records: every late fact updates the right year's log, with the original lined out and the change dated.

Compliance managers are judged on whether the records hold up later, so focus on the basis for each decision and a clean history of changes.

Teams often archive PDFs but lose the confidential privacy list or supporting calculations.

Updates to stored logs change the rates you report internally and can affect what you would resubmit to the ITA, even though the posted 300A does not have to be redone.

• The OSHA 300 Log must be updated during the retention period when new facts appear.
• If a site closes, its records still have to be kept and produced on request for the full five years.

In 2027 a company's archive holds complete packets for 2022 through 2026. The 2021 packet can be retired at the start of 2027, because its five years ended on December 31, 2026. Each packet includes the privacy case list, which is the part most often lost.

1. Store the full packet for each year and establishment.
2. Restrict access to the privacy list.
3. Schedule an annual check for updates.
4. Dispose of records only after the five years end.

What to keep in the case file:

• The 300 Log with line-outs or a change history showing original and new entries
• The privacy case list for the same years
• Certified 300A summaries and the worksheets behind them
• The date and reason for each post-year-end change

300log keeps each establishment's log by year, so a late update goes on the log for the year the case occurred and that year's totals are recalculated.

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

• Updating the OSHA 300 Log After Year End: What Changes and What Does Not
• Death After a Recorded Injury: How to Update OSHA Records
• Closed Establishments and OSHA Record Retention
• Days Away, Restricted Work, and Transfer Cases: How DART Classifications Work