OSHA Compliance
OSHA 300 Log & Workplace Violence: What Belongs On It
Serious workplace violence injuries are recordable on the OSHA 300 Log under 29 CFR 1904. Here is what belongs on the log and why inspectors reconcile it against your incident log.
Serious workplace-violence injuries are recordable on the OSHA 300 Log under 29 CFR 1904, exactly like any other work-related injury. If an assault results in days away from work, restricted duty, medical treatment beyond first aid, or another recording trigger, it belongs on the log — and inspectors reconcile that log against your internal incident records.
#Why this is a recordkeeping question, not just a safety one
Recordkeeping is Component 5 of the OSHA Publication 3148 framework, and it is where many otherwise strong healthcare programs quietly fail. The issue is rarely a missing program; it is an under-recorded 300 Log. When assault injuries are treated as "part of the job" and never logged, the facility creates a discrepancy that an inspector reads as either sloppy recordkeeping or deliberate downplaying — both damaging.
Under-recording is a 29 CFR 1904 violation in its own right, and it also corrodes the credibility of every other record in the program. A worksite analysis means little if the injury data behind it is incomplete.
#What makes a workplace violence injury recordable
The recording criteria for a violence-related injury are the same general 29 CFR 1904 criteria that apply to any work-related injury or illness. An injury is recordable if it is work-related and results in one or more of the following:
| Recording trigger | Example in a violence context |
|---|---|
| Days away from work | A nurse assaulted in triage misses shifts |
| Restricted work or job transfer | An aide reassigned off a unit after an injury |
| Medical treatment beyond first aid | Sutures, prescription medication, or imaging after an assault |
| Loss of consciousness | A staff member knocked unconscious during an incident |
| Significant injury diagnosed by a professional | A diagnosed fracture, concussion, or other significant injury |
If none of these apply — for example, a verbal threat with no injury, or a minor scratch treated with first aid only — the event is not 300-Log recordable. But it almost always belongs on your internal WVP incident log, which captures a much wider set of events.
#Two logs, two purposes — reconciled, not merged
This is the distinction that trips up facilities. The OSHA 300 Log and the internal WVP incident log are not the same document and should not be collapsed into one:
- The OSHA 300 Log records work-related injuries meeting the 29 CFR 1904 criteria. It is a regulatory record.
- The internal WVP incident log records the full picture — assaults, threats, near-misses, verbal aggression — much of which never meets the 300-Log threshold but is essential to your worksite analysis and trending.
Every injury serious enough for the 300 Log should also appear on the internal log. That is the reconciliation point. An inspector cross-checks the two: every 300-Log assault injury should have a corresponding internal incident record, and any serious internal incident that resulted in a recordable injury should appear on the 300 Log. Gaps in either direction are findings.
#How inspectors use the comparison
During an inspection — whether triggered by a complaint, referral, or serious-injury report — the compliance officer typically requests the OSHA 300 Log, the 300A Summary, and the 301 Incident Reports, then asks for your internal incident log alongside them. The comparison answers a single question: is this facility accurately capturing the violence its own staff experience?
A clean reconciliation signals a credible, well-run program. A pattern of internal incidents that never reached the 300 Log signals under-recording — and gives the officer a recordkeeping citation independent of any General Duty Clause case. The incident log that shows a pattern the facility never acted on is also the document that surfaces in post-incident litigation discovery, which is why accurate, contemporaneous recordkeeping matters well beyond the inspection itself.
#Building reconciliation into the program
Accurate recordkeeping is a process, not a one-time cleanup:
- Train recorders to recognize that assault injuries are recordable on the same criteria as any other injury — the "part of the job" mindset is the root cause of under-recording.
- Reconcile the two logs quarterly, investigating every mismatch in either direction.
- Feed the internal log into your worksite analysis, so trending draws on the complete dataset.
- Document the reconciliation itself, so the process is visible to an inspector or surveyor.
This same incident data drives the trending the Joint Commission expects and the annual evaluation Texas Chapter 331 requires — one accurate dataset, three uses.
#Where to start
If you suspect your 300 Log under-records violence injuries — or you have never reconciled it against your incident log — that gap is worth closing before an inspector finds it. A flat-fee survey-readiness audit reviews your recordkeeping alongside the rest of your program, and our OSHA compliance engagement builds the quarterly reconciliation into your program of record.