Q008 - Prescription Strength OTC Medicine

Question: 

An employee is injured at work and sees a doctor. The doctor provides no treatment but recommends the employee takes over-the-counter ibuprofen at a dose of 800mg every 8 hours. Is it recordable?

Answer:

YES, it is recordable. Even though the doctor recommended using OTC ibuprofen, it was recommended at a prescription strength. Ibuprofen taken at a level of over 400mg every 6-8 hours is considered prescription strength.

OSHA Reference

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Q007 - Parking Lot

Question: 

The employee was walking up the stairs at work and felt a snap in their leg. The employee was not carrying anything work-related and was doing nothing more than walking up the stairs. Is it recordable?

Answer:

NO, it is not recordable. The commute is excepted from work-relatedness. The commute doesn't end until the employee physically steps foot onto the work establishment. So, if the employee never got out of the vehicle, then the commute did not end and is therefore not work-related. If the incident occurred the same way but during the normal workday (not during the commute) it would not be excepted and should be recorded.

1904.5

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Q006 - Simply Climbing Stairs

Question: 

The employee was walking up the stairs at work and felt a snap in their leg. The employee was not carrying anything work-related and was doing nothing more than walking up the stairs. Is it recordable?

Answer:

YES, probably. It is definitely work-related. It would be recordable if medical treatment, restricted work or lost time occurred. OSHA operates under a presumption of work-relatedness for any incident that occurs in the work environment. The work environment means anywhere the employee is as a condition of their employment. Climbing stairs is considered a part of a normal workday and is not listed as an exception under the OSHA recordkeeping guidelines. You could try to have a doctor make a determination of work-relatedness but if the workplace contributed to the injury in any way (even if not the sole or predominate cause) then it would still be recordable.

Federal Register

1904.5

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