OSHA

What the OSH Act requires

The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 covers most private-sector employers. Its core duties are:

• The General Duty Clause (Section 5(a)(1)): keep the workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm, even when no specific standard applies. OSHA uses it for hazards such as heat and workplace violence.
• Specific standards for general industry, construction and maritime work: forklifts (powered industrial trucks), lockout/tagout, hazard communication, machine guarding, walking-working surfaces, bloodborne pathogens and many more. Many standards require documented training.
• Recordkeeping and reporting under 29 CFR Part 1904.
• Anti-retaliation. Section 11(c) prohibits retaliating against employees who report injuries, raise safety complaints or contact OSHA.

Roughly two dozen states and territories run their own OSHA-approved State Plans (such as Cal/OSHA in California) that must be at least as effective as federal OSHA and often go further.

What counts as an OSHA recordable

An injury or illness is recordable if it is work-related, new, and results in any of: death, days away from work, restricted work or transfer to another job, medical treatment beyond first aid, loss of consciousness, or a significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional. Certain cases such as needlesticks and some hearing loss are also recordable.

First aid has a defined list: non-prescription medication at non-prescription strength, bandages, cleaning wounds, cold or heat packs, non-rigid supports, and similar. A prescription, stitches or a rigid splint for immobilization moves the case to recordable. Most recordkeeping disputes turn on this line.

Employers with more than 10 employees, outside certain partially exempt low-hazard industries, keep the OSHA 300 log, a 301 incident report for each case and the annual 300A summary. Record each case within seven calendar days, post the 300A from February 1 to April 30, and keep records for five years.

Reporting deadlines

Separate from recordkeeping, every employer must report to OSHA:

• A work-related fatality within 8 hours.
• An in-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye within 24 hours.

Some establishments must also submit injury data electronically each year: those with 250 or more employees in covered industries, those with 20 to 249 employees in designated industries, and, since 2024, establishments with 100 or more employees in designated high-hazard industries, which must submit their 300 and 301 data as well as the 300A. Warehousing, general merchandise distribution and many manufacturing sectors are on those lists.

Temporary and staffing workers

Temporary staffing workers are a recurring OSHA focus because they are new to the site, often get less training, and are injured at higher rates in their first weeks. OSHA treats the staffing agency and the host employer as jointly responsible for their safety. In general, the host employer that supervises the work day to day records the temp's injuries on its own 300 log and provides site-specific training; the agency provides general safety training and checks that the host's conditions are safe.

Put the split in the staffing contract: who trains on which hazards, who provides personal protective equipment, how injuries are reported to the agency and how quickly. A workers' compensation claim usually runs through the agency's policy, while the OSHA recordable sits with the host, so both sides need the same incident facts.

Safety and hiring in high-volume operations

A distribution center adding 400 associates for seasonal hiring peaks changes its injury risk overnight. Most early injuries happen in the first 30 to 90 days, so new-hire safety training, a slower ramp on rate targets and close supervision in the first weeks pay off.

Watch incentive and testing programs. OSHA's recordkeeping rule (1904.35) requires a reasonable reporting procedure and prohibits retaliation for reporting. Safety bonuses tied to zero recordables and automatic post-incident drug tests can discourage reporting. Post-incident testing is generally fine when it is tied to finding the cause of an incident or required by another law, but test policies that look designed to punish reporting draw scrutiny.

For recruiting, list physical requirements honestly in job postings (lifting weight, standing hours, temperature) and keep them consistent with the actual job, which also supports ADA analysis. This page is informational, not legal advice; State Plan rules may be stricter.