An intuitive grasp of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) workplace injury and illness recordkeeping and reporting concepts makes it easier for employers to comply. With that in mind, we recently welcomed Ryan Burr of Burr Consultants LLC to our Risk Control Webinar Series to cover recordable case criteria. Below are some of the main concepts Burr shared.
Burr began by noting that OHSA prescribes recordkeeping requirements for employers with more than 10 employees in the event of work-related deaths and serious injuries and illnesses. Employers in certain industries are partially exempt.
Burr added that injury and illness cases are recordable if any of the following criteria apply to an employee:
Decision tree for recording injury and illness cases. (Burr Consultants LLC)
Employers covered by the rule must record injuries and illnesses in the OSHA 300 Log within seven calendar days of the injury or its medical diagnosis. Also, they must post the OSHA 300A Summary in the workplace between Feb. 1 and April 30 of the year after the year covered by the form.
Burr pointed out that an injury or illness is considered work-related if a workplace event or exposure caused the condition, contributed to the condition, or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition. There are nine work-relatedness exceptions.
An employee is injured in the work environment as a member of the general public, e.g., on their day off.
Conditions surface at work but are solely the result of events or exposures unrelated to work, e.g., pre-existing asthma.
An injury occurs during voluntary activities in the work environment, such as an exercise class.
An employee develops a condition from eating, drinking, or preparing their own food or drink.
The following scenarios count as work-related: Food contamination occurred at work, the employer provided contaminated food, or the employee developed a food-related illness after dining with a customer.
An injury or illness results from an employee performing personal tasks at work, such as fixing a household appliance.
A condition results from personal grooming, self-medication, or is intentionally self-inflicted.
A condition results from a motor vehicle accident on company property or while an employee commutes to or from a workplace. But an injury to an employee struck by a motor vehicle while retrieving an item from their car after parking at work would be considered work-related.
Employees contract the common cold or flu “going around the office.”
A mental illness, unless a healthcare professional provides an opinion that it is work-related.
Also, employers must record a case if a work-related injury or illness caused an employee to miss one or more workdays, Burr said. He also covered additional lost workday determination criteria:
OSHA’s site provides more details about its injury and illness recordkeeping requirements.
This presentation was part of Captive Resources’ Risk Control Webinar Series — regular installments of webinars to educate the group captive members we work with on topics like workplace safety, organizational leadership, and company performance. The thoughts and opinions expressed in these webinars are those of the presenters and do not necessarily reflect Captive Resources’ positions on any of the above topics.
