What is a recordable injury under OSHA?

“You must consider an injury or illness to meet the general recording criteria, and therefore to be recordable, if it results in any of the following: death, days away from work, restricted work or transfer to another job, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness. You must also consider a case to meet the general recording criteria if it involves a significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional, even if it does not result in death, days away from work, restricted work or job transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness.”

“Basic requirement. Each employer required by this part to keep records of fatalities, injuries, and illnesses must record each fatality, injury and illness that:

(1) Is work-related; and

(2) Is a new case; and

(3) Meets one or more of the general recording criteria of § 1904.7 or the application to specific cases of §§ 1904.8 through 1904.12.”

Section 1904.4(a)(3) still refers to 1904.12. The eCFR as of October 27, 2026 has no section 1904.12, so the special cases are in 1904.8 through 1904.11.

• 29 CFR 1904.4, Recordkeeping Forms and Recording Criteria: Recording criteria One paragraph uses the term. Read the text on eCFR.
• 29 CFR 1904.7, General recording criteria 4 paragraphs use the term. Read the text on eCFR.
• 29 CFR 1904.29, Recordkeeping Forms and Recording Criteria: Forms 4 paragraphs use the term. Read the text on eCFR.
• 29 CFR 1904.32, Other OSHA Injury and Illness Recordkeeping Requirements: Annual summary One paragraph uses the term. Read the text on eCFR.

• Work-related injury or illness An injury or illness caused or contributed to by an event or exposure in the work environment, or significantly aggravated by one.
• First aid A complete list of simple treatments. The list includes bandages, wound cleaning and nonprescription medication at nonprescription strength.
• Medical treatment The management and care of a patient to combat disease or disorder. It does not include first aid, observation or diagnostic procedures.
• Days away from work Calendar days an employee is unable to work, or a health care professional recommends staying out, because of a work-related injury or illness, counted from the day after it began.
• Restricted work or job transfer When a work-related injury or illness keeps an employee from routine job functions or the full workday, or moves them to another job part of the day.
• OSHA 300 Log The Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, where employers enter each recordable case.
• TRIR Total recordable incident rate: recordable cases per 100 full-time workers, calculated as cases times 200,000 divided by hours worked.
• Establishment A single physical location where business is conducted or where services or industrial operations are performed.
• Occupational exposure Reasonably anticipated skin, eye, mucous membrane or parenteral contact with blood or other potentially infectious materials from an employee's duties.
• OSHA 300A summary The annual summary of the injuries and illnesses on the OSHA 300 Log, certified and posted by February 1 and kept up until April 30.
• Severe injury reporting Report a work-related death within 8 hours and an in-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye within 24 hours, with time limits and exceptions.

All terms in the OSHA glossary

1. 29 CFR 1904.7, General recording criteria. eCFR, text as of October 27, 2026.
2. 29 CFR 1904.4, Recording criteria. eCFR, text as of October 27, 2026.
3. Cairn data, October 2026 snapshot. Cairn analysis of the OSHA enforcement record.

Written by Cairn, updated October 29, 2026. The quoted text is copied from the sources above. A test compares each quotation with a stored copy of the source, and a separate script compares that copy with the live sources. This page explains the law and is not legal advice.