Are Daycares Exempt From OSHA Recordkeeping?
Child day care services are classified under NAICS 6244, which OSHA's 29 CFR 1904 Subpart B, Appendix A lists as a partially exempt industry — but that exemption only concerns injuries to a daycare's own employees, not the children in its care. A child's injury has never been an OSHA-301 matter under any NAICS code; it falls under state child-care licensing incident-reporting rules instead, which is a separate, usually stricter, obligation.
First, the distinction that actually matters
Two completely separate systems get conflated here, and untangling them answers most of what people actually want to know:
- OSHA recordkeeping (29 CFR Part 1904) covers injuries and illnesses to a business's own employees. It has never applied to customers, patients, or children — that's outside OSHA's statutory reach entirely, for every industry, exempt or not.
- State child-care licensing rules cover injuries to the children in a facility's care. This is where the same-day incident report and parent-notification requirements that daycare operators actually deal with come from — and it has nothing to do with OSHA.
So the honest, complete answer to "are daycares exempt from OSHA recordkeeping" has two parts: yes, for the narrow thing OSHA recordkeeping covers (staff injuries) — and it was never asking about the thing most people actually mean (a child getting hurt) in the first place.
The OSHA exemption, specifically
Child day care services are classified under NAICS 6244, and that code appears by name on 29 CFR 1904 Subpart B, Appendix A, OSHA's list of partially exempt industries — the same list that covers physicians' and dentists' offices, religious organizations, and full-service restaurants. Under 29 CFR 1904.2, a center classified this way does not have to keep the Form 300 injury log, the Form 300A annual summary, or file a Form 301 for its own staff's work-related injuries — unless OSHA, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or a state agency requests it in writing.
A small center may also separately qualify under 29 CFR 1904.1, the size-based exemption for employers with 10 or fewer employees at all times in the prior calendar year — a second, independent route to the same result.
What still applies, even for staff injuries
The exemption is partial, not total. Every employer — exempt industries included — must still report a work-related employee fatality to OSHA within 8 hours, and a work-related in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye within 24 hours, under 29 CFR 1904.39. For a daycare, that means a staff member — not a child in care — hurt badly enough on the job.
What actually governs a child's injury
A child's fall, medical incident, or injury at a licensed facility is governed by that state's child-care licensing regulations, not federal OSHA rules — and in practice, this is the stricter, more immediate obligation most centers deal with. Requirements vary by state, but the common pattern is:
- A written incident report completed the same day, while details are fresh.
- Same-day (often immediate) notice to the child's parent or guardian, sometimes with a signature requirement.
- Staff and/or supervisor sign-off on the report before it's filed or shared.
- A minimum retention period, in some states tied to the child's age rather than a fixed number of years.
Check your specific state's child-care licensing agency for the exact rule — this is exactly the kind of requirement that varies enough state to state that a general guide shouldn't guess at a number on your behalf.
The practical takeaway
"Are daycares OSHA-exempt" is a real, correctly-answered yes — but it answers a narrower question than the one most people are actually asking. The paperwork daycare operators lose sleep over (documenting a child's injury, notifying a parent same-day, keeping the record for years) was never an OSHA matter to begin with. It runs on your state's licensing rules whether or not your NAICS code happens to also be on a federal exemption list.
Frequently asked questions
So a child getting hurt at daycare is never reported to OSHA?
Correct, under any circumstances. OSHA's jurisdiction under the OSH Act is the employer-employee relationship — it has no regulatory authority over injuries to a facility's customers, clients, or the children in its care, regardless of NAICS code or exemption status.
What NAICS code covers daycare, and is it really exempt?
NAICS 6244, Child Day Care Services, appears by name on OSHA's partially exempt industries list (29 CFR 1904 Subpart B, Appendix A) — the same list that covers offices of physicians, dentists, and several other service industries with historically low injury rates.
Does the exemption cover injuries to daycare staff too?
Yes — that's specifically what the exemption is about. A caregiver who strains their back lifting a child, or a kitchen-staff burn, is the kind of employee injury a 6244-classified center is not required to log on OSHA's Form 300/301, absent a written request from OSHA, BLS, or a state agency.
What should a daycare actually document when a child is hurt?
Whatever your state's child-care licensing agency requires — typically a same-day written incident report describing what happened, the care given, and staff/supervisor sign-off, often with same-day written notice to the parent or guardian. Requirements and retention periods vary by state, so check your specific licensing agency's rules.
Sources
- 29 CFR 1904 Subpart B, Appendix A — Partially Exempt Industries
- 29 CFR 1904.2 — Partial exemption for establishments in certain industries
- 29 CFR 1904.1 — Partial exemption for employers with 10 or fewer employees
- 29 CFR 1904.39 — Reporting fatalities, hospitalizations, amputations, and losses of an eye to OSHA
Same-day incident reports parents and licensing agencies expect
IncidentLog files a child-incident report from a phone in under 90 seconds — timestamp, photos, staff and supervisor signature — and generates a certified PDF instantly, so same-day parent notification is realistic even on a busy day.