OSHA 300 Log Description Examples: Clear Enough Without Overexposing Details

Write each 300 Log description as injury, body part, and cause, for example “Second-degree burn, right forearm, acetylene torch”, the pattern OSHA uses on the form. Keep it to one or two lines, and for privacy concern cases describe only the cause and general severity, such as “injury from assault”.

Descriptions need to identify cause and severity without turning the log into a medical narrative.

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).

29 CFR 1904.29(b)(9) lets you describe privacy concern cases in general terms, as long as the cause and general severity are clear:

• A sexual assault can be described as “injury from assault”.
• An injury to a reproductive organ can be described as “lower abdominal injury”.
• A contaminated needlestick can be “needlestick, hand”, without the source patient or diagnosis.
• A mental illness case can be “illness” with the “all other illnesses” column checked.

Use short factual descriptions that support classification and protect privacy when required. 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 write vague descriptions that are useless or detailed descriptions that expose private facts.

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.

• Small sites can make a nameless case identifiable through context.
• Records kept in software count if the system can produce equivalent forms on demand: by the end of the next business day for an employee request and within 4 business hours for a government request.

A 14-person clinic records a needlestick for its only phlebotomist. Even with “privacy case” in the name column, “Needlestick from HIV-positive patient, phlebotomy room” would identify the employee and disclose a diagnosis. The entry becomes “Needlestick, hand”, and the detail stays in the controlled 301.

1. Do the privacy review first.
2. Write the injury, the body part, and the cause.
3. Leave diagnoses and medications in the 301 or the medical file.
4. Reread the line as a coworker would.

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.

• Can a Workers Comp Form Replace OSHA 301? Equivalent Form Rules
• Printable OSHA 300, 300A & 301 Forms: Official PDF Downloads
• OSHA Injury and Illness Incident Report Example for Form 301
• Computerized OSHA Recordkeeping Requirements: Software Output and Access Rules