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Multiple injury logs and job descriptions for floating workers

Summary An employer asked whether it could keep multiple injury-log sets and how to list workers who move among departments. OSHA said extra sets were permissible if the current records were available to authorized requesters, and accepted the described occupation and department method.
Document
Federal opinion letter
Agency
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
Document number
1993-08-31-0
Date issued
August 31, 1993
Status
Archived by the agency
OSHA labels this an archive document and warns that it may no longer represent current policy.
Status last verified October 9, 2026
Topics
Workplace Safety OSHA 1904 Recordkeeping
Source
View the official document

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OSHA labels this an archive document and warns that it may no longer represent current policy. It may no longer reflect the agency's current position. Treat this page as historical context, not current guidance, and verify current law before relying on anything here.
About this page: The full text below is the official document from Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Ezel adds the plain-English summary and tracks the document's status. The official source linked on this page is authoritative for any reliance.

NOTICE: This is an OSHA Archive Document, and may no longer represent OSHA Policy. It is presented here as historical content, for research and review purposes only.

August 31, 1993

Mr. Larry S. Valentine
Director of Loss Prevention
Pet Incorporated
[Recipient address omitted]
Dear Mr. Valentine:

Thank you for your letter dated July 7, requesting interpretations on two OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping issues. Your procedure for maintaining and retaining the OSHA Log, as described in your letter, complies with the recordkeeping regulations. Furthermore, employers are allowed to keep as many sets of records as they feel necessary, as long as the most current set of OSHA records are produced upon a request of access to the records by an authorized person.

Your method of entering "Occupation" and "Department" for floating employees is also within compliance of the recordkeeping regulations. The more precise the information, the more useful the records will be for evaluating the safety and health environment of your establishment.

I hope you find this information useful. If you have any further questions, please contact my staff at Area Code (202) 219-6463.

Sincerely,
Stephen A. Newell Director
Office of Statistics

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