The Occupational Safety and Health Act (“OSH Act”) requires covered employers to meet several reporting requirements to prove compliance. From Feb 1 – April 30, covered employers should post OSHA Form 300A (Summary log) for injuries and illnesses that occurred in 2020. Covered employers should also prepare to electronically submit Form 300A summary data to OSHA by March 2.
There are two exemptions to OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements:
1) Companies with 10 or fewer employees. These companies must keep injury and illness records only if OSHA specifically requires them to do so.
2) Establishments classified in certain low-hazard industries. For example, all industries in agriculture, construction, manufacturing, transportation, utilities and wholesale trade sectors are required to keep OSHA injury and illness records, but in the retail, finance, real estate, insurance, and service sectors, some industries are partially exempt.
Importantly, OSHA’s partial industry classification exemption applies to individual business establishments, not company-wide. Because a given company may operate establishments with different business activities classified in different North American Industrial Classification (NAICS) codes, it is important that each individual establishment learn what its NAICS code is to determine whether it is required to keep and file injury and illness records.
Is Your Company’s Establishment Exempt?
Once you have found your individual establishment’s NAICS code, you can use the following table to determine if your “industry” (or particular establishment) is exempt from the recordkeeping rule. Even if your establishment is exempt from keeping and filing OSHA logs, we encourage as a best practice that companies use the OSHA 300 forms to record injuries and illnesses in the off chance you are asked to do so by OSHA, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or a state agency. Keep in mind also that all employers, including those partially exempted, must report to OSHA any workplace incident that results in a fatality, in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye.
Partially exempt industries include the following NAICS codes:
- 5411: Legal Services
- 5412: Accounting, Tax Preparation, Bookkeeping and Payroll Services
- 5413: Architectural, Engineering and Related Services
- 5414: Specialized Design Services
- 5415: Computer Systems Design and Related Services
- 5416: Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services
- 5417: Scientific Research and Development Services