Recording: 7 calendar days
Each recordable injury must be entered on the OSHA 300 Log and the 301 Incident Report within seven calendar days of receiving information about it (29 CFR 1904.29(b)(3)).
Traps:
- Counting 7 business days is a listed common error. The rule says calendar days.
- 24 hours is the severe-injury reporting deadline under 1904.39, not the recording deadline.
- 30 days is the board's change-notice period and the fatality reporting window, not the recording deadline.
Keep recording and reporting separate: reporting is a phone or online call to OSHA within 8 or 24 hours; recording is an entry on your own log within 7 calendar days.
Posting the 300A: February 1 to April 30
The Form 300A annual summary for the prior year must be posted no later than February 1 and kept posted until April 30 (29 CFR 1904.32(b)(6)).
Traps:
- "Through March 1" is a listed common error. Both a January 1 to March 1 period and a February 1 to March 1 period misstate the end date.
- "3 months" is also a listed error and does not match a February 1 start and April 30 end.
Remember it as start of February to end of April.
Retention: 5 years after the year ends
Keep the 300 Log, the privacy case list, the annual summary and the 301 forms for five years following the end of the calendar year they cover (29 CFR 1904.33). The 300 Log keeps being updated during that period.
Worked example: a 300 Log covering calendar year 2025. End of 2025 + 5 years = end of 2030.
Traps:
- Keeping records through 2028 applies a 3-year period, a listed common error.
- Through 2027 uses 2 years, which has no basis in Part 1904.
- Through 2035 uses 10 years, double the rule.
Quick map of the Part 1904 clocks
- 7 calendar days: record on the 300 Log and 301 (1904.29).
- February 1 to April 30: post the 300A (1904.32).
- 5 years after the covered year: retain (1904.33).