Danger

Incident Report Form

First report of a jobsite injury. The top half is filled at the scene while people still remember the sequence; the bottom half decides whether you are phoning OSHA in the next eight hours.

Stencil print of a first-aid kit and clipboard on a tailgate — A first-aid kit open on a tailgate beside a clipboard \u2014 the first five minutes decide the record.

First report of a jobsite injury. Fill the top half at the scene and the bottom half within 24 hours \u2014 1904.29(b)(3) gives you seven calendar days to record a case, but memory does not last seven days.

Danger

Incident

Incident numberrequiredDate and time of injuryrequired1904.29(b)(2) — the 301 equivalent must carry the dateWhere it occurred (be specific)requiredEmployee name and job titlerequiredWhat the employee was doing just before the incidentrequiredWhat happened, and what object or substance harmed themrequiredInjury or illness, and body part affectedrequired

Treatment and reporting

Treatment given: first aid only, or medical treatment beyond first aid?required1904.7(a) — medical treatment beyond first aid makes the case recordableEmergency room? In-patient hospitalisation? Amputation? Loss of an eye?required1904.39(a)(2) — report to OSHA within 24 hoursFatality?required1904.39(a)(1) — report to OSHA within 8 hoursPhysician or facility name and address

Follow-up

WitnessesImmediate corrective actionrequiredRoot cause and systemic fixrequiredRecorded on the 300 log? Case numberrequired1904.29Prepared by, title and daterequired

The clock starts at the scene

Two deadlines run from the incident, not from the paperwork:

Event	Report to OSHA within	Section
Fatality	8 hours	1904.39(a)(1)
In-patient hospitalisation of one or more employees	24 hours	1904.39(a)(2)
Amputation	24 hours	1904.39(a)(2)
Loss of an eye	24 hours	1904.39(a)(2)

Read from 29 CFR 1904.39 on 2026-09-04.

There is a qualifier worth knowing: a fatality is reported only if it occurs within 30 days of the work-related incident, and a hospitalisation, amputation or eye loss only if it occurs within 24 hours of the incident. Either way the case still goes on your records.

Danger

The 8-hour clock does not pause for an investigation. Report first, understand later.

Then decide recordability

Separately from reporting, 1904.7(a) decides whether the case goes on the 300 log. The trigger everybody argues about is medical treatment beyond first aid — 1904.7(b)(5)(ii) gives a closed list of what counts as first aid, and anything outside that list is medical treatment.

1904.29(b)(3) gives seven calendar days from learning of the case to record it. Use the time to get the classification right, not to hope it goes away.

The half of the form nobody fills in

The bottom section — root cause and systemic fix — is the only part that changes anything. "Employee was not paying attention" is not a root cause; it is the end of an investigation that stopped one question too early.

Ask what made the unsafe act the easy option: was the guardrail removed for a delivery and never replaced, was the right tool three floors down, was the crew told to beat a pour? Then fix that, and record it here.

Sources, with the date each was read

29 CFR 1904.7 — General recording criteria (OSHA)read 2026-09-04
29 CFR 1904.39 — Reporting fatalities, hospitalizations and amputations (OSHA)read 2026-09-04
29 CFR 1904.32 — Annual summary (OSHA)read 2026-09-04

Incident Report Form

Incident

The clock starts at the scene

Then decide recordability

The half of the form nobody fills in

Sources, with the date each was read

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