OSHA Recordkeeping Handbook - denix

§1904.5the employee’s status as an employee, and it wouldtherefore be inappropriate for the recordkeeping systemto capture the case….(ii) Injuries or illnesses will not be consideredwork-related if they involve symptoms that surface atwork but result solely from a non-work-related eventor exposure that occurs outside the work environment.OSHA’s recordkeeping system is intended only tocapture cases that are caused by conditions or exposuresarising in the work environment. It is notdesigned to capture cases that have no relationshipwith the work environment. For this exception toapply, the work environment cannot have caused,contributed to, or significantly aggravated the injuryor illness. This exception is consistent with the positionfollowed by OSHA for many years and reiteratedin the final rule: that any job-related contribution tothe injury or illness makes the incident work-related,and its corollary--that any injury or illness to whichwork makes no actual contribution is not work-related.An example of this type of injury would be a diabeticincident that occurs while an employee is working.Because no event or exposure at work contributedin any way to the diabetic incident, the caseis not recordable. This exception allows the employerto exclude cases where an employee’s non-workactivities are the sole cause of the injury or illness….(iii) Injuries and illnesses will not be consideredwork-related if they result solely from voluntary participationin a wellness program or in a medical, fitness,or recreational activity such as blood donation, physical,flu shot, exercise classes, racquetball, or baseball.This exception allows the employer to excludecertain injury or illness cases that are related to personalmedical care, physical fitness activities and voluntaryblood donations. The key words here are“solely” and “voluntary.” The work environment cannothave contributed to the injury or illness in anyway for this exception to apply, and participation inthe wellness, fitness or recreational activities must bevoluntary and not a condition of employment.This exception allows the employer to exclude casesthat are related to personal matters of exercise, recreation,medical examinations or participation in blooddonation programs when they are voluntary and arenot being undertaken as a condition of work. Forexample, if a clerical worker was injured while performingaerobics in the company gymnasium duringhis or her lunch hour, the case would not be workrelated.On the other hand, if an employee who wasassigned to manage the gymnasium was injuredwhile teaching an aerobics class, the injury would bework-related because the employee was working atthe time of the injury and the activity was not voluntary.Similarly, if an employee suffered a severe reactionto a flu shot that was administered as part of avoluntary inoculation program, the case would notbe considered work-related; however, if an employeesuffered a reaction to medications administered toenable the employee to travel overseas on business,or the employee had an illness reaction to a medicationadministered to treat a work-related injury, thecase would be considered work-related….(iv) Injuries and illnesses will not be consideredwork-related if they are solely the result of anemployee eating, drinking, or preparing food or drinkfor personal consumption (whether bought on thepremises or brought in).This exception responds to a situation that hasgiven rise to many letters of interpretation andcaused employer concern over the years. An exampleof the application of this exception would be acase where the employee injured himself or herselfby choking on a sandwich brought from home buteaten in the employer’s establishment; such a casewould not be considered work-related under thisexception. On the other hand, if the employee wasinjured by a trip or fall hazard present in the employer’slunchroom, the case would be considered workrelated.In addition, a note to the exception makesclear that if an employee becomes ill as a result ofingesting food contaminated by workplace contaminantssuch as lead, or contracts food poisoning fromfood items provided by the employer, the case wouldbe considered work-related. As a result, if an employeecontracts food poisoning from a sandwichbrought from home or purchased in the companycafeteria and must take time off to recover, the caseis not considered work related. On the other hand, ifan employee contracts food poisoning from a mealprovided by the employer at a business meeting orcompany function and takes time off to recover, thecase would be considered work related. Food providedor supplied by the employer does not includefood purchased by the employee from the companycafeteria, but does include food purchased by theemployer from the company cafeteria for businessmeetings or other company functions. OSHAbelieves that the number of cases to which thisexception applies will be few….(v) Injuries and illnesses will not be consideredwork-related if they are solely the result of employeesdoing personal tasks (unrelated to their employment)at the establishment outside of their assignedworking hours.18OSHA RECORDKEEPINGHANDBOOK