§ 1904.31 Covered employees.
Basic requirement. You must record on the OSHA 300 Log the recordable injuries and illnesses of all employees on your payroll, whether they are labor, executive, hourly, salary, part-time, seasonal, or migrant workers. You also must record the recordable injuries and illnesses that occur to employees who are not on your payroll if you supervise these employees on a day-to-day basis. If your business is organized as a sole proprietorship or partnership, the owner or partners are not considered employees for recordkeeping purposes.
Implementation —(1) If a self-employed person is injured or becomes ill while doing work at my business, do I need to record the injury or illness? No, self-employed individuals are not covered by the OSH Act or this regulation.
If I obtain employees from a temporary help service, employee leasing service, or personnel supply service, do I have to record an injury or illness occurring to one of those employees? You must record these injuries and illnesses if you supervise these employees on a day-to-day basis.
If an employee in my establishment is a contractor's employee, must I record an injury or illness occurring to that employee? If the contractor's employee is under the day-to-day supervision of the contractor, the contractor is responsible for recording the injury or illness. If you supervise the contractor employee's work on a day-to-day basis, you must record the injury or illness.
Must the personnel supply service, temporary help service, employee leasing service, or contractor also record the injuries or illnesses occurring to temporary, leased or contract employees that I supervise on a day-to-day basis? No, you and the temporary help service, employee leasing service, personnel supply service, or contractor should coordinate your efforts to make sure that each injury and illness is recorded only once: either on your OSHA 300 Log (if you provide day-to-day supervision) or on the other employer's OSHA 300 Log (if that company provides day-to-day supervision).
Text reproduced verbatim from the eCFR, edition 2026-01-01, retrieved 2026-07-19. A US Government work in the public domain under 17 U.S.C. 105.
10 OSHA interpretations of § 1904.31
How OSHA has applied this section
Letters of Interpretation are OSHA answering specific questions on specific facts. They explain the requirement above but cannot create additional obligations, and a later letter can supersede an earlier one. Newest first.
- 2021-03-17
Determining who is responsible for recording an Injury or illness of police officer candidates when they attend training at a police academy.
- 2018-01-12
Recording Injuries and Illnesses of Temporary Workers versus HIPAA Requirements
- 2017-04-25
Clarification of 1904.31 regarding who is responsible for recording injuries and illnesses when supervision is shared by a prime contractor and subcontractors.
- 2015-10-19
Determining who is the responsible party to record an injury or illness
- 2012-11-21
Clarification of OSHA safety requirements between a temporary staffing agency and its client
- 2012-06-06
Clarifying the Recordability Criteria of Several Examples Addressing the Issues of Determining Work-relatedness and Covered Employees
- 2011-08-10
Clarification of Multiple Business Establishments and Covered Employees
- 2007-02-06
Whether to record injuries that occur to a contract employee when traveling from an offshore manned platform complex to other downfield fixed platforms.
- 2003-06-23
Recording criteria for cases involving workers from a temporary help service, employee leasing service, or personnel supply service.
- 2003-06-23
Participation by professional sports teams in the Bureau of Labor Statistics Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses; definition of independent contractor versus employee.
Part-level source: eCFR API, Title 29 Part 1904.
Not legal advice. This page republishes 29 CFR Part 1904 as published by the eCFR and explains it. The recordkeeping duty is the employer’s. Where the rule requires judgement, Job13 says so rather than guessing — run your own case through the free check.