Work-Related Stress and OSHA Recordability: Mental Illness, Privacy, and Evidence

Mental illness, including stress-related conditions, is not work-related unless the employee voluntarily provides an opinion from a qualified professional that it is. If they do and a recording criterion is met, record it as a privacy concern case with a general description.

Mental health cases require careful evidence, privacy, and work-relatedness review.

Some cases go on the 300 Log without the employee's name. For these privacy concern cases, you write “privacy case” in the name column and keep a separate, confidential list that links case numbers to names (29 CFR 1904.29(b)(6)). The list of privacy concern cases is complete: an injury or illness to an intimate body part or the reproductive system; an injury or illness from a sexual assault; mental illness; HIV infection, hepatitis, or tuberculosis; needlestick and sharps injuries contaminated with another person's blood or other potentially infectious material; and other illnesses, when the employee voluntarily asks that their name be left off. If the details could still identify the person, you may describe the case in general terms (1904.29(b)(9)).

Record only when work-relatedness and OSHA recording criteria are supported by appropriate facts and diagnosis. Leaving a name off the log does little if the description, job title, or date still points to one person on a small team. The fix is to identify privacy cases at intake, before anyone writes the log description, and to review descriptions for identifying detail before any copy leaves the file.

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 either ignore sensitive claims or log private details too broadly.

Privacy status travels with the case: it changes what employees see when they request the log, what goes in the confidential list, and which free-text fields need review before an ITA case-data submission.

• Privacy concern handling can apply when a mental illness case is recorded.
• Names stay on the log for every other case when employees or their representatives request it; you cannot anonymize the whole log.

After a violent incident at a branch, an employee takes two weeks off and provides a psychologist's letter saying the resulting condition is work-related. The case is recorded as a privacy case, checked in column H with the days away, and described only as “illness”. A coworker who reports stress but provides no professional opinion is not recorded.

1. Handle the report seriously and confidentially.
2. Wait for the employee to volunteer a professional's opinion.
3. Record only with that opinion and a recording criterion.
4. Log it as a privacy case with a minimal description.

What to keep in the case file:

• The confidential list of privacy case numbers and names, with restricted access
• The reason each case qualified as a privacy case
• The general description used on the 300 and 301
• A record of who received copies of the log and when

300log puts a privacy case flag on every incident, with OSHA's privacy case types listed where you set it, and exports the OSHA 300 Log with “Privacy Case” in place of the employee's name.

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• OSHA Recordkeeping for Healthcare Clinics: Sharps, Privacy, and ITA Readiness
• OSHA 300 Privacy Concern Cases: Examples and Safer Log Descriptions
• Needlestick and Sharps Injuries on the OSHA 300 Log: What to Record
• Is Light Duty OSHA Recordable? How to Decide Without Guessing