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That’s the question an employer posed to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) earlier this year. On November 6, 2015, OSHA issued a letter of interpretation answering the question and clarifying its position on the work-relatedness of injuries that occur when workers perform personal tasks in the work environment.
Confusing FAQs
In its letter, the employer noted that in OSHA’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about the recordkeeping standard (29 CFR part 1904), OSHA states that an injury or illness that occurs in the work environment before or after an employee clocks in or out is considered work-related. Specifically, the FAQ reads:
“An employee experienced an injury or illness in the work environment before they had ‘clocked-in’ for the day. Is the case considered work-related?
Yes. For purposes of OSHA recordkeeping injuries and illnesses occurring in the work environment are considered work-related. Punching in and out with a time clock (or signing in and out) does not affect the outcome for determining work-relatedness. If the employee experienced a work-related injury or illness, and it meets one or more of the general recording criteria under section 1904.7, it must be entered on the employer’s OSHA 300 log.”
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Based on this answer, the employer noted, it sounds as if the worker whose back was injured while moving the plow suffered a work-related injury—even though he was not doing anything work-related at the time. Could that be right?
A Clarification
In its reply, OSHA noted that Section 1904.5(b)(2)(v) in the recordkeeping standard specifies that an injury or illness is not work-related if it is:
- Solely the result of an employee doing personal tasks (unrelated to his or her employment) at the establishment, and
- Outside of the employee’s assigned working hours.
In order for the “personal tasks” exception to apply, the case must meet both of the stated conditions. The exception is intended to apply to just the sort of situation described by the employer, giving employers enough flexibility to exclude from their recordkeeping situations where the employee is using the employer’s premises for purely personal reasons during his or her off-time.
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To further clarify the applicability of the standard in this situation, OSHA noted that “assigned working hours” means “those hours the employee is actually expected to work, including overtime.” This encompasses the time between the employee’s expected start time of the day and the expected end time of the day and includes formal and informal break times.
The injury described in the employer’s scenario meets both conditions in Section 1904.5(b)(2)(v) and is not work related. Moving the plow was unrelated to the employee’s job, and the task was performed after the employee had clocked out for the day. At the time of the event, the injured employee was not present in the work environment as a condition of employment.
With regard to its FAQ, OSHA noted that “FAQ 5-11 addresses injuries and illnesses that take place in the work environment that do not involve purely ‘personal tasks.’” In the standard, Section 1904.5(a) specifies that a case is presumed work-related if, and only if, an event or exposure in the work environment is a discernable cause of the injury or illness or of a significant aggravation to a preexisting condition.
The exception in Section 1904.5(b)(2)(v) that addresses work-relatedness when employees are on the premises outside their assigned working hours thus applies to work-related, not personal, tasks. Therefore, FAQ 5-11 does not apply to the scenario because, at the time of the injury, the employee was engaged in a personal task unrelated to work.
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