Transcript Injury & Illness Recording

Injury & Illness
Recording
(Update 2007)
Marianne McGee
Work-Relatedness

Cases are work-related if:
An event or exposure in the work
environment either caused or
contributed to the resulting condition
 An event or exposure in the work
environment significantly
aggravated a pre-existing injury or
illness
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1904.5
Work-Related Exceptions
 Cases not work related:
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1904.5(b)(2)
Employee present as a member of the
general public
Non-work event or exposure (e.g.
asthma or diabetes)
Eating and drinking of food and
beverages
Voluntary Wellness Programs or Blood
Donations
Personal tasks outside of working
hours.
Work-Related Exceptions
 Cases not work related:
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Self grooming or self medication
Common colds and flu
Motor Vehicle Accidents:
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1904.5(b)(2)
In company parking lot/access road
On commute to or from work
Mental Illnesses
General Recording Criteria
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Requires records to include any workrelated injury or illness resulting in one
of the following:
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1904.7(a)
Death
Days away from work
Restricted work or transfer to another job
Medical treatment beyond first aid
Loss of consciousness
Diagnosis of a significant injury/illness by a
physician or other licensed health care
professional
General Recording Criteria
(continued)
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Medical treatment vs first aid
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“Light duty” or restricted work
cases
Medical
Treatment
1904.7(b)(5)
First
Aid
First Aid
Using nonprescription
medication at
nonprescription strength
 Tetanus immunizations
 Cleaning, flushing, or
soaking surface wounds
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1904.7(b)(5)
First Aid
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1904.7(b)(5)
Wound coverings, butterfly
bandages, Steri-Strips
Hot or cold therapy
Non-rigid means of support
Temporary immobilization
device used to transport
accident victims
First Aid
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Drilling of fingernail or toenail,
draining fluid from blister
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Eye patches
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Removing foreign bodies from
eye using irrigation or cotton
swab
1904.7(b)(5)
First Aid
1904.7(b)(5)
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Removing splinters or foreign
material by simple means
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Finger guards
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Massages (non-therapeutic)
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Drinking fluids for relief of heat
stress
Hearing Loss
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Requires employers to record
standard threshold shifts (STS)
in employees’ hearing if:
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1904.10
The hearing loss results in a total
hearing loss of 10 db and is 25db
above audiometric zero.
Separate column on the OSHA
form 300 to capture hearing loss
cases
Fatalities
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All work-related fatalities must
be reported to the local OSHA
office (or 800-321-OSHA) within
8 hours.
Heart attacks included
Vehicle accidents don’t need to
be REPORTED to OSHA (but
may be recordable)
Annual Summary
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1904.32
Annual summary posted for
three months
Certification of the summary
by a company executive
Retention & Updating
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Keep current year plus previous
5 years data.
OSHA 300 Log
 OSHA 301 Supplemental Form
 Privacy Case List (If Applicable)
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During storage period, you must
update stored records.
Where to get more information:
www.osha.gov
Recordkeeping Webpage
Save the
PDF file to
your hard
drive
Use the “find” function to
search the document
Be flexible in your word choice
Prescription Medication
Would an injury be recordable if:
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An employee suffered a
recordable injury but the
employee had a positive drug
test and was fired?
Yes – Question 7-9
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When the employer conducts a drug
test based on the occurrence of an
accident resulting in an injury at work
and subsequently terminates the
injured employee, the termination is
related to the injury. Therefore, the
employer must estimate the number
of days that the employee would
have been away from work due to
the injury and enter that number on
the 300 Log.
Would an injury be recordable if:
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An employee is working in the
field and is assaulted by illegal
immigrants?
Yes – Question 5-2
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The Recordkeeping rule contains no
general exception for purposes of
determining work-relationship, for
cases involving acts of violence in
the work environment.
Also, use the “but for test”. But for
the fact the employee was working,
he would not have been in that
location for the incident to occur.
Would an injury be recordable if:
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An employee is turning a
wrench and it slips off and
hits and breaks (or cracks) a
tooth?
Yes – Question 7-17
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Work-related fractures of bones or
teeth are recognized as constituting
significant diagnoses and, if the
condition is work-related, are
appropriately recorded at the time of
initial diagnosis even if the case
does not involve any of the other
general recording criteria.
Would an injury be recordable if:
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An employee damaged a
prosthetic such as a leg or
tooth?
No–Letter of Interpretation 4/30/2007
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Damage to artificial or
mechanical devices, such as
dentures, eye glasses, canes, or
prosthetic arms or legs, would
not be considered an injury or
illness under Part 1904. Must be
related to a person.
Would an injury be recordable if:
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An employee is injured and
receives medical treatment,
A second opinion is obtained and
states medical treatment was not
necessary?
Maybe - Question 7-10a
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Once medical treatment is provided for a workrelated injury or illness, or days away from work or
work restriction have occurred, the case is
recordable.
If there are conflicting contemporaneous
recommendations regarding medical treatment, or
the need for days away from work or restricted work
activity, but the medical treatment is not actually
provided and no days away from work or days of
work restriction have occurred, the employer may
determine which recommendation is the most
authoritative and record on that basis.
In the case of prescription medications, OSHA
considers that medical treatment is provided once a
prescription is issued.
Would an injury be recordable if:
 An
employees suffers a
cut and medical glue is
used in lieu of stitches?
Yes - Question 7-5
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Surgical glue is a wound closing
device. All wound closing devices
except for butterfly and steri strips
are by definition "medical treatment,"
Wound closure devices are not on
the all inclusive first aid list.
Would an injury be recordable if:
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An employees suffers a cut and
Band-aid glue is used in lieu of a
Band-aid?
No - Letter of interp. 8/8/2002
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Band-aid glue is a wound
covering device not a wound
closure device.
Would an injury be recordable if:
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An employee dies during
surgery made necessary by a
work-related injury?
Yes - Question 7-3
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If an employee dies as a result
of surgery or other
complications following a workrelated injury or illness, the case
is recordable.
Would an injury be recordable if:
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An employee is involved a fatal
vehicle accident in a foreign
country?
No – Letter of Interp. 8/26/2004.
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Recordable only if the incident is in
the jurisdiction of OSHA (US, DC,
Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Outer
Continental Shelf Lands)
Would an injury be recordable if:
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An employee is injured at work
and the physician gives a
prescription medication but the
employee does not take the
medicine?
Yes – Question 7-10a
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OSHA considers that medical
treatment is provided once a
prescription is issued
Also see letter of interpretation
02/06/2007
Would an injury be recordable if:
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An employee is injured at work and
the physician tells the employee to
take an over-the-counter medicine
The employee has a reaction and as
a result has to take a prescription?
Yes
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“But for” the fact the employee
had a work-related injury they
would not have taken the OTC.
Would an injury be recordable if:
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An employee was stung by a
bee, and due to an allergic
reaction the employee carries
and administers an epi-pen?
Yes
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“But for” the employee being in the
work environment he would not have
been stung.
Would an injury be recordable if:
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An employee is on-call and is
injured while responding.
Yes
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Except for one commute.
Would an injury be recordable if:
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At a drill site an employee
sleeps in a trailer but would be
expected to respond to an
alarm.
The alarm goes off and the
employee strains his back
getting out of bed and receives
medical treatment.
Yes
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The employees job is to respond
to the alarm and the moment the
alarm sounds the employee is
“working”.
Would an injury be recordable if:
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An employee working on an
offshore drilling rig is off duty
and sustains an injury in the
crew quarters.
Yes – LOI 2/6/2007
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The crew quarters is under the
control of the employer thus not
considered a “home-away-from
home”.
Would an injury be recordable if:
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Volunteer fire brigade member
goes for an annual physical.
Phlebotomist is rough while
drawing blood.
The following day the ees arm
has red streaks.
The Doctor prescribes an RX.
Yes
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The participation on the fire
brigade is voluntary but the
medical evaluation is
mandatory.
The exception under
1904.5(b)(2) is for voluntary
participation in a wellness or
medical program.
Would an injury be recordable if:
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An employee goes on break and
goes to the vending machine to
get a snack and strains his back
and receives medical treatment?
Yes – Letter of Interp. 3/10/2005
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The 1904(b)(2) exceptions do
not apply to injuries that occur
during breaks in the normal
work schedule. Therefore the
injury would be recordable.
Would an injury be recordable if:
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An employee suffers an asthma
attack, (not associated with the
work environment) is
transported to the hospital and
later dies of a heart attack?
No
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The asthma attack was not
caused by an event of exposure
in the work environment,
therefore not work-related. The
resulting heart attack is also not
work-related.
Would an injury be recordable if:
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An employee suffers an injury
and the doctor administers hot
packs, stretching exercises,
massage and TENS.
Yes
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Exercises that amount to self-administered
physical therapy, and are normally
recommended by a health care
professional who trains the worker in the
proper frequency, duration and intensity of
the exercise. Physical therapy treatments
are normally provided over an extended
time as therapy for a serious injury or
illness, and OSHA believes that such
treatments are beyond first aid and that
cases requiring them involve medical
treatment.
Would an injury be recordable if:
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An employee loses time but
later it is determined that the
injury did not occur at work
(fraud)?
No
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If the injury was not work-related
the case would not be
recordable.
Would an injury be recordable if:
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An employee suffers an injury
and is placed on restricted work
but aggravates the injury AT
HOME and now has time off
work?
Yes
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Recordable as restricted work
NOT days away.
Would an injury be recordable if:
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An employee is cut by
machinery and is
bleeding. Another employee
sees the blood and faints?
Yes
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Loss of consciousness as a
result of an event or exposure in
the work environment.
Would an injury be recordable if:
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An employee twists his ankle
and doesn’t want to go to the
doctor so the employer decides
to “take it easy on him”
YES (page 55 of the Blue Book)
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If the employee is kept from
performing one or more of his
normal duties it would be
recordable. The restrictions can
be given by the physician OR
the employer
Questions ??
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Marianne McGee
[email protected]
361-888-3420 ext. 230