OSHA 300 Injury Description Examples That Are Clear Without Oversharing

A good OSHA 300 description names the injury, the body part, and the cause in one or two lines, such as “Laceration, left palm, box cutter”. It should identify the case and its general severity without diagnoses, medications, or personal details, which belong in the 301 or the medical file.

The description has to help identify the case without turning the log into a medical chart.

OSHA recordkeeping uses three forms (29 CFR 1904.29). The OSHA 300 Log lists every recordable case with a one- or two-line description. The OSHA 301 Incident Report, or an equivalent form such as an insurance first report of injury that carries the same information, holds the detail for each case. The OSHA 300A Summary totals the log at year end. Each recordable case must be on the 300 and the 301 within 7 calendar days of receiving information that it occurred. The 300A is the only form you post, from February 1 to April 30, and a company executive certifies it first (29 CFR 1904.32).

• “Hurt back” becomes “Strained lower back lifting 50 lb carton from pallet”.
• “Cut” becomes “Laceration, right index finger, utility knife”.
• “Eye injury” becomes “Foreign body, left eye, grinding dust”.
• “Fell” becomes “Fractured right wrist, fell from 6 ft ladder”.
• “Burn” becomes “Second-degree burn, right forearm, acetylene torch” (the example on OSHA's own form).

Write concise cause and severity details, using general wording for privacy-sensitive cases. When the three forms live in separate files, the log, the incident reports, and the summary drift apart, and the certified numbers stop matching the case files. The fix is to treat the forms as one record with three views: a case number ties each 300 row to its 301, and the 300A is only ever totaled from the reviewed log.

As the safety manager you usually own the decision itself, so the most useful habit is writing down the fact each call rests on at the time you make it.

Teams either write too little to identify the event or too much personal medical detail.

Every 300 entry feeds the 300A totals, the TRIR and DART rates built from them, and, for establishments that must submit case data, a row in the ITA file. A description written carelessly in March is the one an employee reads when they ask for the log in October.

• A unique job title or location can identify a privacy case even without a name.
• Case descriptions are read by employees and former employees, who can request the log, so write them as if they will be shared, because they will be.

A site's draft log has entries like “Hurt at work”, “Back”, and “Bad cut from knife, 6 stitches, on antibiotics.” The first two do not identify the case; the third includes treatment that belongs in the 301. Rewritten, they read “Contusion, right knee, struck by cart”, “Strained lower back, lifting tote”, and “Laceration, left hand, utility knife”.

1. Name the injury or illness in plain terms.
2. Add the body part affected.
3. Add the object or substance that caused it.
4. Review privacy cases for anything that could identify the person.

What to keep in the case file:

• The 300 Log with stable case numbers
• A 301 or equivalent for every case on the log
• The confidential privacy case list, if you have privacy cases
• The certified 300A and the worksheet behind its totals

300log builds the 300 row, the 301 detail, and the 300A totals from a single incident record, so the three forms cannot drift apart, and it exports each one as a PDF when you need to post, print, or hand over a copy.

For a quick answer without an account, use the free recordability checker.

• OSHA Form 301 Seven-Day Rule: When the Incident Report Must Be Complete
• OSHA Equivalent Forms for 300, 300A, and 301: What Counts
• OSHA 300 Case Numbering: How to Keep the Log, 301, and Privacy List Connected
• Commercial Transportation Incidents and OSHA Reporting Exceptions