Safety Tidbit #2.19 - How Many OSHA 300 Logs

Safety Tidbit #2.19 – How Many OSHA 300 Logs?

Sources:           29 CFR 1904.46

I received an email from a colleague asking about recordkeeping. He asked how many OSHA 300 logs does his client need to keep?  The employer takes care of the elderly and has two main campuses. He further stated that with the same NAICS could they get away with two, one for each campus?

Campus #1 includes physical buildings for each of the following:

·      Independent Living Apartment Building and Villas– has its own Executive Director & team;

·      Village Square (Personal Care/Residential Care) with skilled nursing, and Independent Living Apartments & Cottages – has its own Executive Directors & teams and the same building has a license for personal care with its own Executive Directors & teams

·      Home (Corporate Office) (Corporate, Maintenance, Grounds, Transportation, Human Resources, Information Technology)

·      Marketing Office – clerical and sales

Campus #2 is a few miles away from campus #1 and includes one physical building:

·      Nursing Center, Personal Care, Residential Care, Elder Day (adult day care) – 2 Executive Directors & staff (I one for independent living and skilled care, then the other for personal care).

So how many 300 logs should they maintain (two, five or seven)?

The basic recordkeeping requirement is that you must keep a separate OSHA 300 Log for each establishment that is expected to be in operation for one year or longer. And OSHA’s Recordkeeping regulations define an establishment as “An establishment is a single physical location where business is conducted or where services or industrial operations are performed. For activities where employees do not work at a single physical location, such as construction; transportation; communications, electric, gas and sanitary services; and similar operations, the establishment is represented by main or branch offices, terminals, stations, etc. that either supervise such activities or are the base from which personnel carry out these activities.” Clearly the latter part of the definition does not apply to this situation. However, the first part of the definition does and therefore, it appears that five logs are in order here as there are five discrete mailing addresses and buildings.

However, 1904.46(1) provides some clarity (or does it??). Can one business location include two or more establishments? Normally, one business location has only one establishment. Under limited conditions, the employer may consider two or more separate businesses that share a single location to be separate establishments. An employer may divide one location into two or more establishments only when:

                        i.         Each of the establishments represents a distinctly separate business;

                       ii.         Each business is engaged in a different economic activity;

                     iii.         No one industry description in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual (now NAICS) applies to the joint activities of the establishments; and

                     iv.         Separate reports are routinely prepared for each establishment on the number of employees, their wages and salaries, sales or receipts, and other business information.

This part doesn’t really help. According to the 2012 North American Industrial Classification system (NAICS) which is the system we are currently using a few NAICS are possible:

            Skilled Nursing Facilities                    623110

            Assisted living with skilled nursing    623311

            Assisted living without nursing          623312

So that brings our total number of OSHA Logs to seven since it appears we need to split out two of the facilities that have two discrete businesses.

However, OSHA tries to clarify yet again. 1904.46(2) Can an establishment include more than one physical location? Yes, but only under certain conditions. An employer may combine two or more physical locations into a single establishment only when:

                        i.         The employer operates the locations as a single business operation under common management;

                       ii.         The locations are all located in close proximity to each other; and

                     iii.         The employer keeps one set of business records for the locations, such as records on the number of employees, their wages and salaries, sales or receipts, and other kinds of business information. For example, one manufacturing establishment might include the main plant, a warehouse a few blocks away, and an administrative services building across the street.

Given our scenario, the company appears to be under one common management with operations directed based on the level of nursing care needed. Therefore, I would agree that two logs (Campus #1 and Campus #2) should be sufficient. Remember the primary purpose of the OSHA 300 Log is to track and trend injuries and illnesses that happen in the workplace.

Hope this information was helpful and thanks for reading my Safety Tidbits ~ Bryan