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The size exemption is narrower than it sounds
For the ordinary partial recordkeeping exemption, the entire company must have had ten or fewer employees at all times in the previous calendar year. It is not just today’s headcount at this branch. Written OSHA or Bureau of Labor Statistics instructions can still require records.
The same rule says all employers covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act must report the specified severe events under 1904.39. An overseas owner or a small local manager therefore needs a way for serious incident information to reach the employer promptly.
There is an event window as well as a reporting deadline
The following are federal reporting rules for work-related incidents. The deadline normally runs from the outcome; specific provisions govern when the employer or an agent learns later of the outcome or its work-relatedness. These are hours, not business days.
| Outcome | When the outcome must occur after the incident | Reporting period |
|---|---|---|
| Fatality | Within 30 days of the work-related incident | Within 8 hours, subject to the knowledge provisions |
| In-patient hospitalisation, amputation or loss of an eye | Within 24 hours of the work-related incident | Within 24 hours, subject to the knowledge provisions |
An emergency-room visit is not automatically an in-patient admission
For this rule, in-patient hospitalisation means formal admission to the hospital or clinic’s in-patient service for care or treatment. Admission only for observation or diagnostic tests is excluded. The rule also defines amputation; not every injury label answers that definition.
Motor-vehicle accidents on a public street or highway outside a construction work zone and events on commercial/public transport have reporting exceptions. They do not necessarily remove an applicable injury-record obligation. If the local OSHA office is closed, the rule directs reporting through the central telephone number (1-800-321-6742) or the online application, rather than an answering-machine message, fax or email.
Scope
- Federal text only; actual work-relatedness, outcome, knowledge, transport exceptions and applicable state-plan route require their facts. This is not emergency care, a workers-compensation process or complete injury-record guidance.
Next step
Use the applicable agency’s severe-incident reporting route promptly when the actual outcome meets the rule; do not wait because routine logs are exempt.
Sources & review notes
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Passage, dates and research notes
primary · Complete §1904.39(a)–(b)
Within eight (8) hours
Read complete reporting methods, event/occurrence windows, knowledge rules, hospital definition, amputation definition and motor-vehicle public-street/highway and commercial/public-transport exceptions. No actual injury or jurisdiction is classified.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Passage, dates and research notes
primary · Complete §1904.1
all times during the last calendar year
Read company-wide peak-employment test, written OSHA/BLS direction exception and separate reportability. Current headcount at one site is not the specified company/last-year test.
Detailed rule records (1)
The 10-or-fewer partial records exemption uses entire-company peak employment throughout the preceding calendar year and does not remove severe-event reporting. Report a qualifying work-related fatality within 8 hours; in-patient hospitalisation, amputation or eye loss within 24 hours, subject to the event windows, knowledge rules and defined exceptions.
29 CFR 1904.39: severe work-related incident reports 29 CFR 1904.1: small-employer partial record exemptionKeep this reading in your learning library.
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