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Q179 - ICD (Implanted Cardiac Defibrillator)
Question:
An employee has an ICD (implanted cardiac defibrillator) and was vacuuming alone at work. He collapsed. His ICD kicked in and roused him. He took himself to the emergency room and a doctor determined that a mix of his heart condition and the physical activity from the work he was doing contributed to him losing consciousness. Is it recordable?
Answer:
YES. While the heart condition is considered a pre-existing condition, a licensed healthcare professional (LHCP) determined that the workplace contributed to the event. Pre-existing conditions are only exempted from recordkeeping when they are the sole cause of an event. Losing consciousness is considered a recordable event when it is work-related.
1904.7(a): You must consider an injury or illness to meet the general recording criteria, and therefore to be recordable, if it results in any of the following: death, days away from work, restricted work or transfer to another job, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness. You must also consider a case to meet the general recording criteria if it involves a significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional, even if it does not result in death, days away from work, restricted work or job transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness.
1904.5(a) You must consider an injury or illness to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing injury or illness. Work-relatedness is presumed for injuries and illnesses resulting from events or exposures occurring in the work environment, unless an exception in §1904.5(b)(2) specifically applies
Under Section 1904.5(b)(2)(ii), you are not required to record a case if the injury or illness involves signs or symptoms that surface at work but result solely from a non-work-related event or exposure that occurs outside the work environment. For this exemption to apply, the resultant injury must be solely due to the employee's non-work related condition. In other words, an event or exposure in the work environment can play no part in the injury.