OSHA Proposes Changes to Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements

On July 1, 2025, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued several proposed rules, including two that impact employers’ recordkeeping and reporting obligations. 

Occupational Injury and Illness Recordkeeping Requirements

In one of its proposed rules, OSHA seeks to withdraw a proposal that would have amended the OSHA 300 Log by adding a column to specifically record occupational musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).

Employers with 10 or more employees must record certain job-related injuries or illnesses using three forms: 

• Form 300 (“Log”), which requires employers to log basic information about occupational injuries and illnesses;
• Form 301 (“Incident Report”), wherein employers provide details about each recorded injury or illness; and
• Form 300A (“Summary”), in which employers provide the total number of injuries and illnesses that occurred during the year.

Under OSHA’s current recordkeeping requirements, covered employers use these forms to record work-related injuries and illnesses that involve death, days away from work, restricted work or transfer to another job, medical treatment beyond first aid, loss of consciousness, or a significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional. In 2010, OSHA proposed a rule reviving earlier efforts to add an MSD column to the 300 Log indicating whether an employee experienced a work-related musculoskeletal disorder.

Effective July 1, 2025, OSHA once again withdrew its proposal to add an MSD column to the 300 Log. In withdrawing the proposed rule, OSHA concluded that the MSD column was not necessary to improve national statistics, assist OSHA in the enforcement of the Occupational Safety and Health Act or outreach, or provide useful information to employers and employees at the establishment level.

Employers should be mindful that the withdrawal does not change employers’ obligations to report MSDs, or any other occupational illnesses or injuries, if it meets OSHA’s injury and illness reporting criteria. Nor does the withdrawal impact the recording criteria used on the Form 300 Log. In other words, covered employers must still adhere to OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements, which may include recording MSDs on the Forms 300, 301, and 300A.

Occupational Exposure to COVID-19 in Healthcare Settings

In another proposed rule, OSHA seeks to remove its COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for healthcare employers as well as the associated recordkeeping and reporting requirements, marking an end to the Agency’s pandemic-era emergency safety rules. 

In June 2021, OSHA issued an ETS to protect workers in healthcare settings from COVID-19 exposure, which implemented additional recordkeeping and reporting requirements for healthcare employers. The recording provision required healthcare employers to maintain a log of work-related COVID-19 cases, while the reporting provision required these employers to report any instances of work-related COVID-19 fatalities or hospitalizations among their staff. The recordkeeping and reporting requirements of the ETS remained in effect until February 2025, when the Agency stayed enforcement of the requirements. OSHA has not enforced the reporting or recording requirements since implementing the stay, but the requirements remain in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). 

If finalized in its current form, the proposed rule would remove the reporting and recording requirements from the CFR text. Given the changed circumstances since the ETS was first issued, OSHA takes the position that the requirement to report COVID-19-related fatalities and hospitalizations has lost importance and no longer warrants a separate reporting system beyond that required for other diseases. OSHA’s other justifications removing the COVID-19 reporting requirements include: (1) employers’ knowledge about COVID-19 cases among their employees is now much more limited due to at-home testing; (2) the COVID-19 public health emergency has ended; (3) COVID-19 vaccines are widely available; (4) COVID-19 is treated more like other respiratory illnesses by medical professionals; and (5) the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has eliminated many COVID-19-related recommendations for healthcare facilities.

OSHA is requesting public comment on its proposal to remove the COVID-19-specific recordkeeping and reporting requirements related to the ETS—not on removing the ETS itself. Parties interested in submitting feedback regarding this proposed rule have until September 2, 2025 to do so. 

Employers should be aware, however, that removal of these requirements does not change their obligations to report certain COVID-19 cases. As set forth in 29 CFR 1904, employers still must report fatalities and hospitalizations related to workplace exposures to COVID-19 if the fatality occurs within 30 days of the exposure or the hospitalization occurs within 24 hours of the exposure. Similarly, employers must also recognize that certain state-OSHA plans may have more restrictive regulations that require COVID-19-specific recording and reporting. For example, California’s COVID-19 ETS recordkeeping provision continues to require that employers record and track all COVID-19 cases until February 3, 2026.