b)
Implementation
1) Work Environment
The work environment is defined as the establishment and
other locations where one or more employees are working or are present as a
condition of their employment. The work environment includes not only physical
locations, but also the equipment or materials used by the employee during the
course of work.
2)
Exceptions
An injury or illness occurring in the work environment that
falls under one or more of the following exceptions is not work-related and,
therefore, is not recordable:
A) At
the time of the injury or illness, the employee was present in the work
environment as a member of the general public rather than as an
employee.
B) The injury or illness
involves signs or symptoms that surface at work but result solely from a
non-work-related event or exposure that occurs outside the work
environment.
C) The injury or
illness results solely from voluntary participation in a wellness program or in
a medical, fitness or recreational activity such as blood donation, physical
examination, flu shot, exercise class, racquetball or baseball.
D) The injury or illness is solely the result
of an employee eating, drinking or preparing food or drink for personal
consumption (whether bought on the employer's premises or brought in). EXAMPLE:
if the employee is injured by choking on a sandwich while in the employer's
establishment, the case would not be considered work-related. However, if the
employee is made ill by ingesting food contaminated by workplace contaminants
(such as lead), or gets food poisoning from food supplied by the employer, the
case would be considered work-related.
E) The injury or illness is solely the result
of an employee doing personal tasks (unrelated to the employment) at the
establishment outside of the employee's assigned working hours.
F) The injury or illness is solely the result
of personal grooming, self-medication for a non-work-related condition, or
intentionally self-inflicted.
G)
The injury or illness is caused by a motor vehicle accident and occurs on a
company parking lot or company access road while the employee is commuting to
or from work.
H) The illness is the
common cold or flu. Contagious diseases such as tuberculosis, brucellosis,
hepatitis A, illness resulting from variants of SARS-CoV (including COVID-19),
or plague are considered work-related if the employee is infected at
work.
I) The illness is a mental
illness. Mental illness will not be considered work-related unless the employee
voluntarily provides the employer with an opinion from a physician or other
licensed health care professional with appropriate training and experience
(psychiatrist, psychologist, psychiatric nurse practitioner, etc.) stating that
the employee has a mental illness that is work-related.
3) Determining whether the Precipitating
Event Occurred in the Work Environment
If it is not obvious whether the precipitating event or
exposure occurred in the work environment, the employer must evaluate the
employee's work duties and environment to decide whether one or more events or
exposures in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting
condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.
4) Aggravating Pre-Existing
Conditions
A pre-existing injury or illness has been significantly
aggravated, for purposes of injury and illness recordkeeping, when an event or
exposure in the work environment results in any of the following:
A) Death, provided that the pre-existing
injury or illness would likely not have resulted in death but for the
occupational event or exposure.
B)
Loss of consciousness, provided that the pre-existing injury or illness would
likely not have resulted in loss of consciousness but for the occupational
event or exposure.
C) One or more
days away from work, or days of restricted work, or days of job transfer that
otherwise would not have occurred but for the occupational event or
exposure.
D) Medical treatment in a
case in which no medical treatment was needed for the injury or illness before
the workplace event or exposure, or a change in medical treatment was
necessitated by the workplace event or exposure.
5) Pre-existing Conditions
An injury or illness is a pre-existing condition if it
resulted solely from a non-work-related event or exposure that occurred outside
the work environment.
6)
Travel Status
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 these 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).
Injuries or illnesses that occur when the employee is on travel status do not
have to be recorded if they meet one of the following exceptions:
A) When a traveling employee checks into a
hotel or motel, or other temporary residence, the employee establishes a home
away from home. The employee's activities after the employee checks into the
temporary residence must be evaluated by the employer for work-relatedness in
the same manner as the employer evaluates the activities of a non-traveling
employee. When the employee checks into the temporary residence, the employee
is considered to have left the work environment. When the employee begins work
each day, the employee re-enters the work environment. If the employee has
established a home away from home and is reporting to a fixed worksite each
day, injuries or illnesses are not work-related if they occur while the
employee is commuting between the temporary residence and the job
location.
B) Injuries or illnesses
are not considered work-related if they occur while the employee is on a
personal detour from a reasonably direct route of travel (e.g., has taken a
side trip for personal reasons).
7) Work at Home
Injuries and illnesses that occur while an employee is
working at home, including work in a home office, will be considered
work-related if the injury or illness occurs while the employee is performing
work for pay or compensation in the home, and the injury or illness is directly
related to the performance of work rather than to the general home environment
or setting. EXAMPLE: If an employee drops a box of work documents and injures
their foot, the case is considered work-related. If an employee is injured
because the employee trips on the family dog while rushing to answer a work
phone call, the case is not considered work-related. If an employee working at
home is electrocuted because of faulty home wiring, the injury is not
considered work-related.
