OSHA Form 300 readiness checklist
Whether an injury or illness lands on your annual log isn't a judgment call — OSHA has a specific definition. This checklist is the field-tested version we use to triage incidents inside DirtFleet's incident module before they hit Form 300.
Recordable: any one of these makes it Form 300-eligible
- •Death (anytime, any cause work-related)
- •Days away from work (one or more full calendar days, not counting the day of injury)
- •Restricted work / job transfer (modified duty for one or more days)
- •Medical treatment beyond first aid (prescription medication, sutures, splints, physical therapy)
- •Loss of consciousness (any duration)
- •Diagnosis by a physician of a significant injury (cancer, fractured / cracked bone, punctured eardrum)
- •Needlestick / sharps injury contaminated with another person's blood or body fluid
Not recordable: first aid only
29 CFR 1904.7(b)(5)(ii) lists what counts as first aid. If the treatment is on this list and the injury didn't cause days away or restricted work, it's NOT recordable.
- •Cleaning, flushing, or soaking on the surface (not penetrating)
- •Using band-aids, gauze pads, or butterfly closures
- •Hot / cold therapy on a bruise (single application)
- •Drinking fluids for relief of heat stress
- •Eye patches without medication
- •Removing foreign material with a swab or tweezers (no irrigation)
- •Massage (not physical therapy)
Common slip-ups
- ⚠Missing the 7-day reporting window for fatalities (8 hours) and amputations / loss-of-eye / inpatient hospitalizations (24 hours).
- ⚠Treating a 'restricted duty day' as non-recordable. Restricted work IS recordable — even if the worker is on-site full-time.
- ⚠Forgetting that subcontractor injuries on YOUR site may need to land on YOUR Form 300 if you control the work.
- ⚠Not preserving Form 301 (Injury Report) within 7 days of learning of the incident.
- ⚠Posting the 300A summary outside the Feb 1–Apr 30 window.
How DirtFleet automates the prep
DirtFleet's incident module captures every Form 300 field at the moment of the incident report (kind, severity, occurred-at, location, people involved, OSHA-recordable flag, corrective actions). At year-end, hit GET /api/export/osha300?fmt=csv for a Form 300-aligned CSV you can paste into your recordkeeper's template — no spreadsheet archaeology.
Disclaimer: this is general guidance, not legal advice. When in doubt, consult OSHA Letters of Interpretation or a qualified safety professional.