Small-employer exemption
Under 29 CFR 1904.1(a)(1), a company that had 10 or fewer employees at all times during the last calendar year, counted company-wide at peak, does not need to keep OSHA injury and illness records.
Traps:
- "Fewer than 3" is the Georgia workers' comp threshold (O.C.G.A. 34-9-2), not OSHA.
- "15 or fewer on an average day" misstates both the number and the at-all-times, peak-count test.
- A clean injury record does not create the exemption; headcount does.
Exempt from recording, not from reporting
The exemption covers recordkeeping only. Under 1904.1 and 1904.39, every covered employer must still report severe injuries. A contractor with 8 employees all last year is exempt from the 300 Log, but if a worker loses an eye it must report to OSHA within 24 hours. Believing exempt employers need not report is a listed common error, and recording on the 300 Log within 7 days is a duty this employer does not have.
The two reporting deadlines
29 CFR 1904.39:
- Fatality: within 8 hours.
- In-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye: within 24 hours.
Swapping 8 and 24 is the listed common error. 48 hours is not a 1904.39 deadline, and 7 days is the recording deadline, not a reporting deadline.
When the clock starts
The clock starts when the employer learns of the event, not at the incident. An amputation happens at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday; the employer learns at 2:00 p.m. Tuesday. 2:00 p.m. + 24 hours = 2:00 p.m. Wednesday. Starting at 10:00 a.m. uses the right 24 hours but the wrong start. 6:00 p.m. Tuesday wrongly applies the 8-hour fatality deadline from the incident.
The 30-day window
A fatality is reportable only if the death occurs within 30 days of the work-related incident (1904.39). A worker who dies 45 days after the incident is past that window, so no fatality report is required. The 8-hour deadline applies only to a death inside 30 days. Do not confuse the 30-day window with the 24-hour deadline.