OSHA 7-day rule for recordkeeping.

The rule, and a correction to common citations

The seven-day deadline is in 29 CFR 1904.29(b)(3) (Forms). Some summaries cite 1904.7, which is the general recording criteria that decide whether a case is recordable at all. This page follows the regulation text: 1904.29(b)(3) asks "how quickly must each injury or illness be recorded?" and answers: within seven (7) calendar days of receiving information that a recordable injury or illness has occurred.

What gets recorded

• OSHA 300 Log. Enter your business information at the top and a one or two line description for each recordable injury or illness, then summarize on the 300-A at year end (1904.29(b)(1)).
• OSHA 301 report. Complete a 301 Incident Report, or an equivalent form, for each recordable case entered on the 300 Log (1904.29(b)(2)).
• Equivalent forms. A form with the same information, as readable and understandable, completed using the same instructions, qualifies; many employers use an insurance form, adding anything OSHA requires (1904.29(b)(4)).
• Computers. Records may be kept on a computer if it can produce equivalent forms when needed (1904.29(b)(5)).
• Privacy concern cases. For cases such as an injury to an intimate body part, sexual assault, mental illness, HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis, and needlestick or sharps injuries contaminated with another person's blood, write "privacy case" instead of the name on the 300 Log and keep a separate confidential list of names (1904.29(b)(6)-(7)).

The 8-hour and 24-hour reports are different

Section 1904.39 separately requires an employer to report to OSHA a work-related fatality within eight hours, and an in-patient hospitalization of one or more employees, an amputation or a loss of an eye within twenty-four hours, by telephone, in person to the nearest OSHA Area Office, by calling 1-800-321-OSHA, or through the reporting application on OSHA's website. That is a report to OSHA, not entry on your log. The seven-day clock is for your own log and incident report.

Worked example

A supervisor learns on Monday, November 2, 2026 that an employee's injury needed medical treatment beyond first aid and is recordable. The case must be on the OSHA 300 Log and the 301 report by Monday, November 9, 2026. If the supervisor first learns on Friday, November 6, the date is Friday, November 13. The count starts from receiving information that the case is recordable, not from the date of the injury.

Limits

The calculator counts calendar days only. Whether a case is recordable depends on the criteria in the rest of part 1904, and which employers must keep records depends on size and industry exemptions that are not covered here.

Sources

• 29 CFR 1904.29 Forms: the seven-calendar-day rule, the 300, 300-A and 301 forms, equivalent forms and privacy cases. Read November 2, 2026.
• 29 CFR 1904.39 Reporting fatalities, hospitalizations, amputations, and losses of an eye: the 8-hour and 24-hour reports to OSHA. Read November 2, 2026.

Regulation text is the eCFR version current to October 29, 2026.