Horseplay Question: In a warehouse, during a lunch break, two employees are participating in an online viral challenge where a person drops a piece of paper from the top of a flight of stairs and races down the stairs in time to catch the paper. The first employee is barely able to catch the paper in time. The second employee feels pressured to accomplish the challenge and ends up tripping while rushing down the stairs too quickly. He injures multiple body parts and ends up with bruises, cuts, broken bones and a concussion. Is it recordable? Answer: YES. The injury is considered work-related because it occurred on company property during the workday and the injuries (broken bones) are severe enough to trigger recordability. Also, lunch is considered part of the normal workday and is not included in the list of exceptions for recordkeeping purposes. ​Letter of Interpretation: This case must be recorded because it does not meet the exception to work-relatedness in Section 1904.5(b)(2)(v) for injuries that occur in the work environment but are solely due to personal tasks. For the "personal tasks" exception to apply, the injury or illness must 1) be solely the result of the employee doing personal tasks (unrelated to their employment) and 2) occur outside of the employee's assigned working hours. OSHA clarified in a January 15, 2004 letter of interpretation that Section 1904.5(b)(2)(v) does not apply to injuries and illnesses that occur during breaks in the normal work schedule. Here, the exception does not apply because the injury occurred during the employee's lunch break 1904.7(b)(7) What is a "significant" diagnosed injury or illness that is recordable under the general criteria 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? Work-related cases involving cancer, chronic irreversible disease, a fractured or cracked bone, or a punctured eardrum must always be recorded under the general criteria at the time of diagnosis by a physician or other licensed health care professional. https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/2005-03-10 https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/2004-01-15 https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owalink.query_links?src_doc_type=STANDARDS&src_unique_file=1904_0007&src_anchor_name=1904.7(b)(7)

Dishonest Employee Question: An employee set to retire within a year reported that he injured a shoulder while lifting a piece of equipment. The employee receives shoulder surgery and misses a month of work. Later, a coworker reported that the injury actually occurred at home while the employee was replacing the roof on their house. During an investigation the employee confirms the injury was not work-related. The injury has already been added to the OSHA log. Is it recordable? Answer: NO. The entry on the OSHA log can be lined out because the injury was found to be not work-related. 1904.33(a) Do I have to update the OSHA 300 Log during the five-year storage period? Yes, during the storage period, you must update your stored OSHA 300 Logs to include newly discovered recordable injuries or illnesses and to show any changes that have occurred in the classification of previously recorded injuries and illnesses. If the description or outcome of a case changes, you must remove or line out the original entry and enter the new information. https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1904/1904.33

Plane Crash Question: An employee is traveling for work on a commercial airline when her plane crashes and she is seriously injured. The injuries are so severe that she is hospitalized. Is it recordable? Answer: YES, it is recordable. Travel for work is not excepted under OSHA recordkeeping and injuries that occur while an employee is on travel status are considered work-related. Normally, a hospitalization must be reported to OSHA in 24 hours. This incident does not need to be reported to OSHA in 24 hours because it was a result from a commercial flight. It still must be added to the OSHA log. https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1904/1904.5

Please support our partners who make it possible for this site to continue operating free for you! Tell them RedBeard sent you! Q214 - Homemade Stitches Question: An employee cuts their arm while opening a box at work. They self-administer stitches and later are directed to visit the doctor. The doctor opines that the stitches are unnecessary and a simple wound covering would have sufficed for treatment. Is it recordable? Answer: NO. Medical treatment must be recommended by the employer or a licensed healthcare professional in order for it to be considered medical treatment beyond first aid for OSHA recordkeeping purposes. ​ Letter of Interpretation Generally, OSHA does not consider self-treatment or self-medication by the employee to constitute medical treatment beyond first aid. The treatment must be directed or recommended by the employer or a health care professional to be considered medical treatment beyond first aid. ​ ​ ​ Ask a Question

Ergonomic Deficiency Question: An office worker develops tendonitis in his wrist and is provided medical treatment and work restrictions, resulting in a recordable injury. The tendonitis resulted from poor ergonomics. The employee recovered completely from the tendonitis. 10 months later, the same employee sees a doctor, receives surgery and misses several days of work due to tendonitis in his same wrist. Is it recordable? Answer: YES. Ergonomic and cumulative trauma injuries are not excepted in the recordkeeping language and therefore should be recorded if they result in medical treatment beyond first aid, work restrictions or days away from work. The second occurrence of tendonitis should be considered a new case and the surgery received makes it a second recordable even though it is for the same employee and the same body part. 1904.5(a): Basic requirement. 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 Letter of Interpretation: 1904.6(a): Basic requirement You must consider an injury or illness to be a "new case" if: 1904.6(a)(1): The employee has not previously experienced a recorded injury or illness of the same type that affects the same part of the body, or 1904.6(a)(2): The employee previously experienced a recorded injury or illness of the same type that affected the same part of the body but had recovered completely (all signs and symptoms had disappeared) from the previous injury or illness and an event or exposure in the work environment caused the signs or symptoms to reappear. https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/interlinking/standards/1904.5(a) https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/2004-11-30

Change in Business Ownership Question: A small oil refining company is purchased by a larger refining company. As a part of the deal, the small refining company’s crude transportation business unit is also included. However, the crude transportation group was plagued by mismanagement, oil spills, and many recordable injuries over the years including the year of the purchase by the large oil refining company. The crude transportation company is immediately dissolved after the purchase and the assets are sold off. Are their recordable injuries still recordable? If so, who owns them? Answer: YES. The recordable injuries suffered by the small refining company’s crude transportation unit are still recordable and the logs must be kept by the larger oil refining company. However, only the log for the year of the purchase is kept by the larger refining company. The previous owner of the small company must maintain the logs of the previous four years to meet the five-year requirement. 1904.34 - Change in business ownership: If your business changes ownership, you are responsible for recording and reporting work-related injuries and illnesses only for that period of the year during which you owned the establishment. You must transfer the part 1904 records to the new owner. The new owner must save all records of the establishment kept by the prior owner, as required by § 1904.33 of this part, but need not update or correct the records of the prior owner. 1904.33(a) Basic requirement. You must save the OSHA 300 Log, the privacy case list (if one exists), the annual summary, and the OSHA 301 Incident Report forms for five (5) years following the end of the calendar year that these records cover. https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1904/1904.34 https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/interlinking/standards/1904.33(a)

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Question: An employee becomes ill at work and is taken to a clinic for evaluation. The employee is confirmed infected with the COVID-19 (coronavirus) and is provided medical treatment and quarantined in the hospital. It is believed they contracted the virus outside of the work environment. Is it recordable? Two weeks later, 1 other employee who worked in close proximity with the now-quarantined employee also tested positive for COVID-19 and is voluntarily quarantined at home but does not receive medical treatment or a recommendation for time off work. It is believed they contracted the virus at work from their coworker. Is it recordable? A third employee is tested positive with COVID-19 and is believed to have contracted the virus on the job. They receive medical treatment beyond first aid and a recommendation of time away from work from a healthcare professional. Is it recordable? Answer: NO, NO and YES. The first employee did not contract the virus in the work environment and therefore it is not recordable. The second employee did contract the virus in the work environment but did not receive medical treatment and therefore it is not recordable. The third employee contracted the virus from work and did receive medical treatment and time off work and therefore is recordable. OSHA Safety and Health Topics/COVID 19: COVID-19 can be a recordable illness if a worker is infected as a result of performing their work-related duties. However, employers are only responsible for recording cases of COVID-19 if all of the following are met: The case is a confirmed case of COVID-19 (see CDC information on persons under investigation and presumptive positive and laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19); The case is work-related, as defined by 29 CFR 1904.5; and The case involves one or more of the general recording criteria set forth in 29 CFR 1904.7 (e.g. medical treatment beyond first-aid, days away from work). Enforcement Guidance for Recording Cases of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): This memorandum provides interim guidance to Compliance Safety and Health Officers (CSHOs) for enforcing the requirements of 29 CFR Part 1904 with respect to the recording of occupational illnesses, specifically cases of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). This memorandum will take effect immediately and remain in effect until further notice. This guidance is intended to be time-limited to the current public health crisis. Please frequently check OSHA’s webpage at www.osha.gov/coronavirus for updates. Under OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements, COVID-19 is a recordable illness, and employers are responsible for recording cases of COVID-19, if: (1) the case is a confirmed case of COVID-19, as defined by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC);[1] (2) the case is work-related as defined by 29 CFR § 1904.5;[2] and (3) the case involves one or more of the general recording criteria set forth in 29 CFR § 1904.7.[3] On March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, and the extent of transmission is a rapidly evolving issue. In areas where there is ongoing community transmission, employers other than those in the healthcare industry, emergency response organizations (e.g., emergency medical, firefighting, and law enforcement services), and correctional institutions may have difficulty making determinations about whether workers who contracted COVID-19 did so due to exposures at work. In light of those difficulties, OSHA is exercising its enforcement discretion in order to provide certainty to the regulated community. Employers of workers in the healthcare industry, emergency response organizations (e.g., emergency medical, firefighting, and law enforcement services), and correctional institutions must continue to make work-relatedness determinations pursuant to 29 CFR § 1904. Until further notice, however, OSHA will not enforce 29 CFR § 1904 to require other employers to make the same work-relatedness determinations, except where: There is objective evidence that a COVID-19 case may be work-related. This could include, for example, a number of cases developing among workers who work closely together without an alternative explanation; and The evidence was reasonably available to the employer. For purposes of this memorandum, examples of reasonably available evidence include information given to the employer by employees, as well as information that an employer learns regarding its employees’ health and safety in the ordinary course of managing its business and employees. This enforcement policy will help employers focus their response efforts on implementing good hygiene practices in their workplaces, and otherwise mitigating COVID-19’s effects, rather than on making difficult work-relatedness decisions in circumstances where there is community transmission. CSHOs will generally refer to CPL 02-00-135, Recordkeeping Policies and Procedures Manual (Dec. 30, 2004) and CPL 02-00-163, Field Operations Manual (FOM) (Sept. 13, 2019), Chapters 3 and 6, as applicable.[4],5] The following additional specific enforcement guidance is provided for CSHOs: COVID-19 is a respiratory illness and should be coded as such on the OSHA Form 300. Because this is an illness, if an employee voluntarily requests that his or her name not be entered on the log, the employer must comply as specified under 29 CFR § 1904.29(b)(7)(vi). https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/covid-19/standards.html https://www.osha.gov/memos/2020-04-10/enforcement-guidance-recording-cases-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19

Company Ski Trip Question: On a business trip, a company approves a day of snow skiing as company entertainment while in the mountains. The employees on the trip treat some customers to a day of snow skiing. On the second run of the day, an employee and a customer collide, resulting in a fractured wrist for the employee. Is it recordable? Answer: YES. The ski trip was approved as company entertainment and was conducted with company business in mind. The fractured wrist meets OSHA recordable criteria. ​1904.5(b)(6) How do I decide whether an injury or illness is work-related if the employee is on travel status at the time the injury or illness occurs? Injuries and illnesses that occur while an employee is on travel status are work-related if, at the time of the injury or illness, the employee was engaged in work activities "in the interest of the employer." Examples of such activities include travel to and from customer contacts, conducting job tasks, and entertaining or being entertained to transact, discuss, or promote business (work-related entertainment includes only entertainment activities being engaged in at the direction of the employer). 1904.7(b)(7) What is a "significant" diagnosed injury or illness that is recordable under the general criteria 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? Work-related cases involving cancer, chronic irreversible disease, a fractured or cracked bone, or a punctured eardrum must always be recorded under the general criteria at the time of diagnosis by a physician or other licensed health care professional. https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/interlinking/standards/1904.5(b)(6) https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/interlinking/standards/1904.7(b)(7)

Q203 - Lava Lamp Enhance your career with the Master Safety Professional and Certified Safety Director certifications only at NASP! Tell them RedBeard sent you! Question: Employees in a shop were heating a lava lamp with a torch when the lamp exploded. Glass shrapnel injured an employee's eye, resulting in a loss of his eye. Is it recordable? Answer: YES. It is recordable because it occurred during normal working hours, within the work environment and is not a listed exception. The loss of the eye is also reportable and must be reported to OSHA within 24 hours. ​ 1904.7(a) Basic requirement. 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. ​ How to Report a Serious Injury to OSHA ​ ​ Ask a Question

Support those who support YOU! Visit our partner page and tell them RedBeard sent you! Q228 - Insidious Splinter Question: On the weekend, at home, an employee received a splinter in his hand while building a wooden loft bed for his daughter. He removed the splinter but a small piece of wood remained under his skin. Several months later, while at work lifting a heavy piece of machinery, the pressure on the small splinter injures his hand. The injury becomes infected and he receives prescription antibiotics. Is it recordable? Answer: YES. A pre-existing injury is work-related if the work environment contributed to the injury. The work environment does not have to be the sole or predominant cause of an injury in order for it to be considered recordable. 1904.5(a) Basic requirement. 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 ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Ask a Question

Under the Influence Question: In a sad attempt to promote safety at work, an employee dresses in a costume and begins recording promotional videos without explicit approval from management. The employee falls down a flight of stairs and breaks multiple bones. The same employee also is found to be under the influence of THC after failing a drug test. Is it recordable? Answer: YES. Being under the influence or using poor judgment are not exceptions to the OSHA recordkeeping guidelines. A significant incident that is beyond the employer's control must still be recorded. Letter of Interpretation: In the final rule, OSHA notes that many circumstances that lead to a recordable work-related injury or illness are "beyond the employer's control." Nevertheless, because such an injury or illness was caused, contributed to, or significantly aggravated by an event or exposure at work, it must be recorded on the OSHA form (assuming that it meets one or more of the recording criteria and does not qualify for an exception to the geographic presumption). This approach is consistent with the no-fault recordkeeping system OSHA has historically adopted, which includes work-related injuries and illnesses, regardless of the level of employer control or non-control involved. The concept of fault has never been a consideration in any recordkeeping system of the U.S. Department of Labor. Both the Note to Subpart A of the final rule and the new OSHA Form 300 expressly state that recording a case does not indicate fault, negligence, or compensability. In addition, OSHA recognizes that injury and illness rates do not necessarily indicate a lack of interest in safety and health or success or failure per se. OSHA feels it is to the benefit of all parties to go beyond the numbers and look at an employer's safety and health program. https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/2002-02-06

Please support our partners who make it possible for this site to continue operating free for you! Tell them RedBeard sent you! Q231 - Spilled Tea Question: Two employees collide into each other while walking at work. One employee gets hot tea spilled on their arm. The employee sees a doctor and is cleared to work but claims he can't work and goes home for the rest of the day. He returns to work the next day. Is it recordable? Answer: NO. The recommendation made by a licensed health care professional, and the actions of the employer are determinative for recordkeeping purposes, not the opinion of the employee. Since the licensed healthcare professional cleared the employee for work, it is not considered days away from work if the employee took an optional day off. ​ 1904.7(b)(3)(ii) How do I record an injury or illness when a physician or other licensed health care professional recommends that the worker stay at home, but the employee comes to work anyway? You must record these injuries and illnesses on the OSHA 300 Log using the check box for cases with days away from work and enter the number of calendar days away recommended by the physician or other licensed health care professional. If a physician or other licensed health care professional recommends days away, you should encourage your employee to follow that recommendation. However, the days away must be recorded whether the injured or ill employee follows the physician or licensed health care professional's recommendation or not. If you receive recommendations from two or more physicians or other licensed health care professionals, you may make a decision as to which recommendation is the most authoritative, and record the case based upon that recommendation. ​ 1904.7(b)(3)(iii) How do I handle a case when a physician or other licensed health care professional recommends that the worker return to work but the employee stays at home anyway? In this situation, you must end the count of days away from work on the date the physician or other licensed health care professional recommends that the employee return to work. ​ ​ ​ Ask a Question