OSHA 180-Day Cap: How to Count Long Days Away and Restricted Cases

You may stop counting at 180 calendar days: if a case's days away, restriction, or transfer total more than 180, entering 180 is enough. Until the case ends, enter an estimate on the log and update it when the count is known or reaches the cap.

Long injury cases can overwhelm logs when the team does not know when to stop counting.

Gather these first, and keep them with the record afterward:

• Provider notes with restriction dates and what was restricted
• The employee's routine functions, from a job analysis or supervisor
• Day-by-day status: away, restricted, transferred, or full duty
• Estimates for cases still open at year end and when they were updated

DART cases are the ones checked in column H (days away from work) or column I (job transfer or restriction) of the 300 Log. Each case is checked once, in the most serious column that applies (death, then days away, then restriction or transfer, then other), but both day counts are entered: days away in column K and restricted or transferred days in column L. Count calendar days, starting the day after the injury or illness began (29 CFR 1904.7(b)(3)). Restricted work means the employee cannot perform one or more routine functions (activities done at least once a week) or cannot work the full workday, whether you impose it or a provider recommends it (1904.7(b)(4)). You may stop counting at 180 days.

1. Track calendar days.
2. Update the estimate as the case develops.
3. Cap at 180 days.
4. Keep the basis with the case.

Tip: Use OSHA day-counting rules and cap days away, restricted work, or transfer at 180 calendar days.

Teams stop counting too early because payroll codes end before medical restrictions do.

DART is where cases and days get confused: the rate counts cases, while the log also carries day totals that leadership often reads as the same thing. The fix is to track each case's status day by day (away, restricted, transferred, or full duty) and derive both the column and the day counts from that record.

Analysts are measured on numbers leadership trusts, so document every input and assumption behind a rate or a total.

• A case may need estimates and later updates before the final count is known.
• A restriction that applies only to the day of injury does not make the case recordable as restricted work.

A worker is off for 150 days after surgery, then on restricted duty for 60 more. The combined total passes 180, so the log can show 150 days away and 30 restricted days, reaching the cap, rather than tracking the full 210.

Column H and I cases drive the DART rate and the 300A totals; the day counts in K and L go on the 300A too, and into the ITA file for covered establishments.

300log keeps days away and restricted days on each case, carries them into the 300A totals, and lets you update the counts as a case develops, so the posted summary and the DART rate come from the same entries.

For a quick answer without an account, use the free rate calculator.

• OSHA Recordkeeping for Warehouses: DART, Days Away, and ITA Risks
• Days Away, Restricted Work, and Transfer Cases: How DART Classifications Work
• Ergonomic Injuries and Restricted Work on the OSHA 300 Log
• Loss of an Eye Reporting to OSHA: The 24-Hour Rule Explained