§ 1904.4 Recording criteria.
Basic requirement. Each employer required by this part to keep records of fatalities, injuries, and illnesses must record each fatality, injury and illness that:
Is work-related; and
Is a new case; and
Meets one or more of the general recording criteria of § 1904.7 or the application to specific cases of §§ 1904.8 through 1904.12.
Implementation —(1) What sections of this rule describe recording criteria for recording work-related injuries and illnesses? The table below indicates which sections of the rule address each topic.
Determination of work-relatedness. See § 1904.5.
Determination of a new case. See § 1904.6.
General recording criteria. See § 1904.7.
Additional criteria. (Needlestick and sharps injury cases, tuberculosis cases, hearing loss cases, medical removal cases, and musculoskeletal disorder cases). See §§ 1904.8 through 1904.12.
How do I decide whether a particular injury or illness is recordable? The decision tree for recording work-related injuries and illnesses below shows the steps involved in making this determination.
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.
5 OSHA interpretations of § 1904.4
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.
- 2024-05-02
Enforcement Guidance Under OSHA's Recordkeeping Regulation When First Aid, Active Release Techniques (ART), and Exercise/Stretching Are Used to Treat Musculoskeletal Injuries and Illnesses
- 2015-10-19
Determining whether an injury or illness is work-related and recordable
- 2012-06-06
Clarifying the Recordability Criteria of Several Examples Addressing the Issues of Determining Work-relatedness and Covered Employees
- 2009-02-09
Determining work-relatedness for recordkeeping of injury resulting from horseplay.
- 1998-04-03
Maintenance of OSHA recordkeeping forms using computer systems.
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.