Workplace safety and OSHA
Incident Investigation and OSHA Recordkeeping
Record injuries correctly, report severe events on time, and investigate every incident to find causes rather than culprits
Short course · 3 hours · Certificate does not expire
When someone is hurt at work, two jobs start at once. One is recordkeeping: deciding whether the case belongs on the OSHA 300 log, recording it within 7 days and, for the most serious events, calling OSHA within 8 or 24 hours. The other is investigation: finding out why it happened and changing the work so that it does not happen again. Most organizations do one well and the other poorly. This course teaches both.
The first half covers federal OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping in 29 CFR Part 1904: who must keep records and the partial exemptions, the work-relatedness presumption and its exceptions, the general recording criteria, the complete first aid list, counting days away and restricted work, privacy cases, Forms 300, 301 and 300A, posting from 1 February to 30 April, 5-year retention, severe injury reporting under 1904.39, and electronic submission under 1904.41, including the Form 300 and 301 submission that began in 2024 for establishments with 100 or more employees in designated industries. It also covers the employee's right to report without retaliation under 1904.35 and 1904.36, and the incentive and discipline practices that quietly suppress reporting.
The second half covers incident investigation: making the scene safe and securing it, gathering evidence, interviewing witnesses without leading or blaming, building a timeline, finding root causes rather than stopping at 'worker error', learning from near misses, choosing corrective actions with the hierarchy of controls and checking that they worked. It maps the method to ISO 45001:2018 clause 10.2. Examples come from metal fabrication, aerospace machining, electronics assembly and warehousing.
The course teaches federal OSHA requirements. State-plan states may have additional or stricter rules, and employers outside the US follow their own national regulations. It does not replace your employer's own procedures for who records cases, who reports to OSHA and who investigates.
The course closes with a 20-question examination drawn from a bank of 30. On passing you receive a PlanetISO Certificate of Completion for the instruction delivered online, with lifetime access to the course. The certificate does not expire.
What people learn
- Distinguish incidents, injuries and near misses, and explain why recordkeeping and investigation are separate obligations.
- Determine whether a case is work-related, new and meets the general recording criteria of 29 CFR 1904.7, using the first aid list correctly.
- Complete OSHA Forms 300, 301 and 300A within the required deadlines, handle privacy cases, and meet posting, certification and retention rules.
- Recognize events that must be reported to OSHA within 8 or 24 hours under 29 CFR 1904.39 and identify whether electronic submission under 1904.41 applies.
- Describe employee reporting rights and identify practices that discourage reporting.
- Respond to an incident safely, secure the scene, gather evidence and interview witnesses without leading or blaming.
- Identify root causes, choose corrective actions using the hierarchy of controls, verify effectiveness and meet ISO 45001:2018 clause 10.2.