The Flanders Group serves New York state marinas, auto/RV dealerships, nurseries/landscapers, manufacturers and refuse companies. Most of our clients must comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordkeeping, reporting and posting rule, and we are often asked about the retention requirements of these OSHA documents.
There are three forms that employers are required to maintain and report, and these are OSHA forms 300, 300A, and 301 (to learn more about these and where to obtain them, please see our blog post titled, “Using the Right OSHA Form”). According to OSHA, an organization must save the OSHA 300 Log, Annual Summary, and the OSHA 301 Incident Report forms for five years following the end of the calendar year that these records cover. This requirement exists even if there is a merger or acquisition.
The next logical question you may have is whether or not your business has to update the OSHA 300 log during the five-year storage period. The answer is yes. During the storage period, you must update your stored OSHA 300 Logs to include all newly discovered, recordable injuries or illnesses and to show any changes that have occurred in the classification of previously recorded injuries and illnesses. If the description or outcome of a case changes, clients must remove or line out the original entry and enter the new information.
If you have any questions or wish to learn more about how keeping these stored records updated, please contact us at The Flanders Group for assistance.