Former small-employer injury log exemption and contract workers

NOTICE: This is an OSHA Archive Document, and may no longer represent OSHA Policy. It is presented here as historical content, for research and review purposes only.

November 3, 1994

Ms. Lillian Lowe Office Manager Earthwell International Technologies, Inc.
[Recipient address omitted]
Dear Ms. Lowe:

Thank you for your letter dated October 13, requesting information concerning exemptions from the OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping requirements. Your letter was forwarded to my office from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Our Division of Recordkeeping Requirements is responsible for the administration of the OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping system nationwide.

As stated on page 4 of the enclosed Recordkeeping Guidelines for Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, an employer who had no more than ten (10) full or part-time employees at any time during the previous calendar year is normally exempted from keeping OSHA injury and illness records. The test for the small employer exemption is the number of employees in the entire firm, not the number in an individual establishment. Q&A A-1 on page 24 of the Guidelines further discusses the differentiation of employees and contract workers for recordkeeping purposes. If the using firm supervises the contract laborers on a day-to-day basis, those workers must be counted as the using firm's employees and any recordable injury or illness occurring to those workers must be entered into the using firm's OSHA records.

Employers who are normally exempted from the recordkeeping requirements are required to maintain an OSHA 200 Log if they are notified in writing by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that they have been selected to participate in the Annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses. These employers must also comply with OSHA standards, display the OSHA poster, and report to OSHA within 8 hours any work related accident that results in a fatality or the hospitalization of three or more employees.

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

Sincerely,

Bob Whitmore Chief Division of Recordkeeping Requirements

Enclosure