OSHA inspectors can cite your restaurant and issue fines up to $15,625 per violation if you fail to post your annual injury and illness summary—known officially as the OSHA Form 300A. This federal requirement, enforced by the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OR.OSHA) in Portland, tracks workplace safety metrics. Key facts:
Analyzed from OSHA Form 300A - Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses
83% from one compliance interview
Manual entry or document upload required
You need to complete and post the OSHA Form 300A - Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses because it is a federal requirement under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act), specifically enforced by OSHA standards 29 CFR 1904. In Portland, Oregon, this federal law is administered by the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA). The rule applies to nearly all employers with 11 or more employees in most industries, including restaurants. The form serves as an annual summary of all recordable injuries and illnesses logged on the OSHA 300 Log during the previous calendar year.
Failing to complete, certify, and post this form from February 1 to April 30 each year carries significant consequences. Based on ApronPrep's analysis of enforcement data, the top penalties include:
Legal code: Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act)
Recent update: As of 2024, Oregon OSHA has aligned its penalty structure with federal OSHA, increasing maximum fines for serious and willful violations; employers must also be aware of electronic reporting requirements for certain establishments, though the physical posting rule for Form 300A remains unchanged.
| Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurant (Full-Service) | Required | Required under OSHA 29 CFR 1904.1 because most full-service restaurants employ 10 or more full-time employees, which places them under the general industry coverage and mandates the form. |
| Bar / Nightclub | Required | Required under OSHA 29 CFR 1904.1 as an establishment under NAICS code 7224 (Drinking Places), which is generally not exempt from OSHA recordkeeping requirements. |
| Food Truck | Required | Required under OSHA 29 CFR 1904.1 if the mobile unit employs 10 or more full-time employees; often overlooked but subject to the same rules as fixed establishments. |
| Coffee Shop / Café | Not Required | Often exempt under OSHA 29 CFR 1904.1 if they employ fewer than 10 full-time employees, which is common for smaller independent coffee shops. |
See which restaurant types need this requirement — and which don't.
See Full Requirements →Enter the total number of injuries and illnesses recorded on your OSHA Form 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) for the entire calendar year. This is a count of cases, not incidents.
COMMON MISTAKE: Incorrectly summing only severe injuries or including non-recordable first aid cases, which will underreport and violate OSHA's recordkeeping requirements.
Enter the total number of hours worked by all employees (full-time, part-time, and temporary) at the establishment during the calendar year, including overtime and paid leave, to calculate the incidence rate.
COMMON MISTAKE: Using payroll hours instead of actual hours worked or omitting temporary worker hours, which will result in an inaccurate and non-compliant calculated rate.
This is a calculated field: (Total injuries/illnesses x 200,000) / Total hours worked. It standardizes your injury rate regardless of workforce size for year-over-year and industry comparison.
COMMON MISTAKE: Manually entering an estimated or rounded number instead of the precise calculated rate, which is a red flag for auditors checking data consistency.
Sum the number of cases listed in columns H and I on your OSHA Form 300 Log, which count injuries/illnesses resulting in days away from work, job transfer, or restricted work activity.
COMMON MISTAKE: Counting the total number of days lost instead of the number of cases, which leads to a severe undercount and an inaccurate DART rate.
This should be the same total hours worked figure used for the total recordable rate calculation above, ensuring both rates are based on a consistent annual hours baseline.
COMMON MISTAKE: Using a different hours-worked total here than in the total recordable rate field, creating a mathematical inconsistency that will fail an OSHA review.
This is a calculated field: (Number of DART cases x 200,000) / Total hours worked. It measures the rate of more serious incidents that impact work schedules.
COMMON MISTAKE: Incorrectly calculating the rate or transposing numbers from the total recordable rate, which misrepresents your establishment's safety performance.
Enter the four-digit calendar year (e.g., 2026) that the Form 300A summary covers. This must match the year of the data in your Form 300 Log.
COMMON MISTAKE: Entering the fiscal year, the posting year (e.g., 2027 for 2026 data), or an incorrect year format, which will misalign your submission.
Enter the official, legal name of your restaurant or establishment as it is registered with OSHA, the state, and for tax purposes.
COMMON MISTAKE: Using a DBA (Doing Business As) name instead of the legal entity name, or abbreviating the name inconsistently with other official filings.
Enter the city where the establishment is physically located and where the reported employees worked. Use the official city name, not a metropolitan area.
COMMON MISTAKE: Entering a mailing address city (like a corporate HQ) instead of the physical worksite city, which violates OSHA's establishment-specific reporting rules.
Enter the two-letter postal abbreviation for the state where the establishment is physically located (e.g., 'OR' for Oregon).
COMMON MISTAKE: Spelling out the full state name or using an incorrect abbreviation, creating a mismatch with other geographic data fields.
ApronPrep auto-fills 164 of 198 fields from a single compliance interview — no re-typing, no guessing what the government expects.
Employers post the 300A for the previous year. A common error is displaying an outdated form or placing it in a back office instead of a common area where all employees can see it. For example, posting the 2024 summary in February 2025 is correct; posting the 2023 summary is a violation. This mistake can trigger an OSHA inspection and penalties, as it's a visible record-keeping violation that adds immediate compliance risk.
The form requires the total number of hours worked by all employees in the previous calendar year. Mistakes happen when using payroll hours (which include paid time off) instead of actual hours worked, or by omitting hours for part-time, temporary, or seasonal workers. For instance, including 80 hours of paid vacation for an employee inflates the denominator, artificially lowering your injury rates. An incorrect calculation invalidates the data and can be cited during an OSHA inspection, requiring a corrected posting.
The 300A form must be signed and certified by a company executive (owner, CEO, highest-ranking officer, or their direct supervisor). A frequent oversight is having a safety manager or HR representative sign it, which does not meet OSHA's requirement. The form must be certified as true, correct, and complete. An uncertified or improperly certified form is considered incomplete. This error is a direct violation of OSHA's record-keeping rule (29 CFR 1904.32) and can result in a fine if discovered.
ApronPrep auto-fills 164 of 198 fields from one compliance interview.
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| City | Fee Range | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Eugene | ||
| Portland | ||
| Salem |
Throughout the year, log every recordable work-related injury or illness on the detailed OSHA Form 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses). You must have the log completed before you can summarize it. Record cases within 7 calendar days of receiving information that a recordable incident occurred. Common trip-up: Not distinguishing between first aid cases (not recordable) and recordable injuries, which can lead to underreporting and non-compliance.
Before creating your summary, review the Form 300 Log for the entire year to ensure entries are accurate and complete. A company executive must then certify that the log is correct and complete by signing and dating the certification section at the bottom of the last page of Form 300. Missing this certification is a common audit finding by Oregon OSHA.
Transfer the annual totals from your verified Form 300 Log to the OSHA Form 300A summary. You must calculate and enter totals for specific columns: number of deaths, cases with days away from work, job transfer or restriction, and other recordable cases. ApronPrep's auto-fill can pull these totals if you've used the platform to maintain your log. The most frequent error is miscalculating the total number of days of job transfer or restriction.
This is one of 13 requirements for opening a restaurant in Oregon.
federal
local
federal
state
See all co-required forms and how they connect to your compliance dossier.
See All RequirementsProcessing time for OSHA Form 300A, a federal requirement, varies. The form is not submitted for approval but must be completed and posted annually. Federal OSHA regulations state it must be posted from February 1 to April 30. There is no 'get' timeline as with a permit; it's a record-keeping and posting duty you must perform on schedule to avoid penalties.
There are no government filing fees for OSHA Form 300A. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration does not charge for the form or its submission. However, failure to post it can result in significant fines, up to $15,625 per violation as of 2026. Not legal advice — verify with OSHA.
No. The OSHA Form 300A is a location- and year-specific summary of your establishment's injury/illness data. It is not transferable. If you open a new location, you must maintain a separate OSHA 300 Log and produce a new Form 300A for that establishment. This is separate from securing a City Business License/Registration for the new address.
You must complete and post a new OSHA Form 300A every year. The cycle is based on the calendar year: you review your OSHA 300 Log data from the previous year, complete the new 300A summary, and post it from February 1 to April 30. This is an annual renewal obligation, similar to the recurring requirement for maintaining your Application for Employer Identification Number records with the IRS.
During an OSHA inspection, the compliance officer will verify your Form 300A is correctly posted (February 1–April 30) and accessible to all employees. They will also review your underlying OSHA 300 Log for the past 5 years to check record-keeping accuracy. The officer may interview employees about reported incidents. Failure to have these records can trigger a citation and fine on the spot.
This guide is generated from ApronPrep's compliance dossier system, which uses 53 parallel AI authority experts to discover requirements, then downloads actual forms and generates field-level intelligence for each one.
For Oregon specifically, we have analyzed compliance dossiers for 3 cities (Eugene, Portland, Salem), generating Rich FILs (Form Intelligence Layers) with 198 form fields analyzed for this requirement. Fee data is sourced from actual county department fee schedules, not estimates.
Our data is verified against official government sources and updated when regulatory changes are detected. If you find an error, please report it — accuracy is our core commitment.
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