OSHA Checklist and FAQs for Small Employers

This page turns the OSHA rules into a yearly routine and answers common questions. The background is on the OSHA overview and rules and numbers pages, and pay rules are in the FLSA guide.

The Dock-to-Desk Safety Lap

The Dock-to-Desk Safety Lap is our name for a yearly walk through OSHA duties, from the loading dock where injuries happen to the desk where records are kept. January suits it, because the summary posting window opens February 1.

1. Confirm who regulates you. Private employers in Illinois answer to federal OSHA; the Illinois State Plan covers state and local government.
2. Walk the work areas. Compare what you see with the standards for general industry or construction. OSHA's preliminary fiscal 2026 most-cited list starts with fall protection, hazard communication and lockout and tagout.
3. Check the poster. It is free from OSHA, and an older version may stay up.
4. Test your size and industry. With 10 or fewer employees at all times last year, or a listed low-hazard industry, routine injury records are not required. Otherwise enter each recordable case within 7 calendar days.
5. Write down the severe-event clocks. Death within 8 hours; in-patient hospitalization, amputation or eye loss within 24 hours. If the area office is closed, use OSHA's toll-free line or online form.
6. Close the year. Have an executive certify Form 300A, post it February 1 to April 30 and check whether your site submits online by March 2.
7. Store records. Keep them 5 years and be ready to hand them over within 4 business hours.

Common mistakes

• Treating 10 or fewer employees as a full exemption. It removes routine recordkeeping only.
• Missing the 8-hour or 24-hour window, or leaving a message when the area office is closed.
• Leaving part-time, seasonal and temporary people out of the headcount for the 20, 100 and 250 employee submission tests.
• Posting Form 300A late, or having someone other than an authorized executive certify it.
• Writing reporting rules that discourage injury reports, or disciplining people who report.
• Letting the 15 working-day contest period lapse.

When to talk to an attorney

A CPA cannot answer these questions. An attorney can.

• A citation and notice of proposed penalty arrives, because the 15 working-day clock is running.
• OSHA arrives to inspect or interview, or with a warrant or subpoena.
• A death or serious injury raises criminal or civil exposure.
• An employee says they were punished for reporting an injury; the OSH Act complaint window is 30 days, and other laws differ.

A CPA can help with the payroll, tax and accounting side of workplace safety, such as headcount records and the cost of safety upgrades, and works alongside the owner's attorney. Our payroll services page describes that work.

Frequently asked questions