SAFETY OPERATIONSSTANDARD

Evidence for safer work and accountable operations.

Covered United States employers and establishments, subject to stated scope and exemptions · U.S. federal regulation

29 CFR Part 1904 — Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses

Part 1904 governs which occupational injuries and illnesses covered employers record, severe events they report, records they retain, and data certain establishments submit electronically to OSHA.

In forceBinding federal regulation within scope; State Plan requirements may be at least as effective and can differ

What the authority record establishes

Part 1904 governs which occupational injuries and illnesses covered employers record, severe events they report, records they retain, and data certain establishments submit electronically to OSHA.

Binding federal regulation within scope; State Plan requirements may be at least as effective and can differ

The exact official title, issuing body, jurisdiction, version or application record, and linked source define the scope of this page. Readers should not transfer the authority's status to a commercial product or infer transaction-, patient-, system-, site-, or organization-specific applicability from this summary.

Why it matters to this market

Recordkeeping systems need establishment logic, privacy controls, form workflows, submission support, retention, and a defensible distinction between an incident report and an OSHA-recordability determination.

Affected operating stages

  • Incident Intake
  • Recordability Review
  • Case Update
  • Annual Summary
  • Electronic Submission
  • Retention And Audit

Capabilities to examine

Incident And Near-Miss Reporting

Ask how the system or service identifies the controlling source and version, applies customer-specific interpretation, handles exceptions, preserves human judgment, and retains evidence for incident and near-miss reporting.

Occupational Health And Case Management

Ask how the system or service identifies the controlling source and version, applies customer-specific interpretation, handles exceptions, preserves human judgment, and retains evidence for occupational health and case management.

Analytics, Leading Indicators, And Performance Evaluation

Ask how the system or service identifies the controlling source and version, applies customer-specific interpretation, handles exceptions, preserves human judgment, and retains evidence for analytics, leading indicators, and performance evaluation.

Management-System Records And Document Control

Ask how the system or service identifies the controlling source and version, applies customer-specific interpretation, handles exceptions, preserves human judgment, and retains evidence for management-system records and document control.

Affected buyer audiences

  • U.S. safety and EHS leaders
  • site and operations leaders
  • occupational health teams
  • legal and audit teams

Implementation questions

  • Which entities, products, populations, transactions, systems, sites, or jurisdictions are actually within scope?
  • What is binding, what is guidance, and what is a technical or consensus standard?
  • Which publication, adoption, effective, application, transition, and enforcement dates differ?
  • Who owns legal, clinical, quality, regulatory, policy, or operational interpretation?
  • How will a source revision affect open work and historical decisions?

Interpretation boundary

The publication does not decide whether a specific case is work-related or recordable. Employers should use the regulation and qualified guidance for case-specific determinations.