• OSHA regulates workplace safety and health.factory image by cico from Fotolia.com
  
  The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is the federal authority charged under the OSHA Act, 1970, with promulgating and enforcing occupational safety standards for U.S. workplaces. OSHA standard 1904 relates to recordkeeping and includes a requirement to use an OSHA Form 300 to record workplace injuries or illnesses. State OSHAs can make rules or vary federal OSHA standards according to the state's perceived needs. Generally speaking, federal OSHA standards constitute the minimum requirements workplaces must meet. State OSHA variations add stringency or specificity to federal standards.
  
  

Federal Requirements

• Businesses are required to log workplace injuries and illness.pile of papershets with paper-clips #2 image by stassad from Fotolia.com
  
  Under OSHA standard 1904, "Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illness," the OSHA Form 300 is to be used by employers to log all injuries and illnesses which occur in the workplace. Businesses which employ 11 or more staff at any time during the year are required to complete Form 300. Under section 1904.2, businesses of any size which fall into a low-hazard category--e.g. retail, finance, insurance--are exempt from this requirement. The information gathered helps individual employers and OSHA compliance officers to track and identify workplace safety and health problems. Incidents must be recorded within seven days of their occurrence, and employers must record incidents affecting contract workers supervised by them as well as direct employees. Employees, former employees and their representatives are permitted to review Form 300 logs.
  
  

Minnesota Requirements

• Low-risk workplaces are exempt under federal OSHA.Office image by Yvonne Bogdanski from Fotolia.com
  
  Minnesota's requirements with respect to Form 300 are in almost every respect identical to federal requirements. OSHA standard 1904 is effective in the State of Minnesota. Compliance with federal OSHA recordkeeping standards is mandatory in the State of Minnesota as elsewhere, including the maintenance of a Form 300 log.
  
  

Minnesota Variation

• Minnesota OSHA does not exempt low-risk businesses.real estate contract image by Keith Frith from Fotolia.com
  
  Minnesota OSHA has not, however, adopted section 1904.2 of the standard, the partial exemption for establishments in certain industries. This means that, in the State of Minnesota, the only exempt businesses are those with fewer than 11 employees. Minnesota does not recognize the low-hazard element of the OSHA standard. Whereas federal OSHA regulations permit businesses to claim exemption per Standard Industrial Classification Code, all workplaces in Minnesota must comply with Form 300 recordkeeping. Retail, finance, and insurance companies, for example, must maintain a log of workplace illness and injuries by completing the OSHA Form 300.