Understanding OSHA Recordkeeping Part 1
May 3, 2021
In this episode, Sheldon goes over what criteria are needed to have an injury or illness to be considered OSHA recordable. This part one of a two part series.
Keywords: OSHA, OSHA Recordkeeping, Recordkeeping, Injury, Illnesses, First Aid, Medical Treatment, Sheldon Primus, Sheldon, Primus, Government, US, Puerto Rico, Territories, Guam, 300 logs, 301 logs, electronic recordkeeping, Safety FM, Safety and Health, EHS, Worker safety, regulation, standards, construction, general industry, Joe Biden, President Biden, Kamala Harris, VP Harris, Department of Labor, DOL, NAICS
[00:00:04] spk_0: This episode is powered by safety FM. Welcome to the safety consultant podcast. I am your host holding private. This is the podcast where I teach you the business of being a safety consultant. Welcome. So I got you guys for another week. This week, we're actually going to start talking about a couple of things leading into OSHA compliance. And I am going to do probably a two weaker on this one. And this is gonna be OSHA compliance regarding specifically OSHA Recordable for injury and illness is So this week I'm gonna start with the basics before we go any crazier and start doing anything like super detailed. There's a lot of detail in the basics, but I really understand that a lot of people get confused with OSHA compliance, especially when it comes to record keeping. Uh, so I'm going to demystify as best as I can and in demystifying. I really want to let you guys know that it is easier than you think though. It is still not completely uh where you don't need some extra help, let's say that way. So here's where I'm gonna, like, I'm going to kind of give you guys uh an overview first before we even get into the topic. So what I'm gonna do is there's five basic questions that you need to ask yourself before you determine if an injury is actually recordable or not. So this is what we're gonna do. I am not going to do any commercials in here, as you guys have noticed that you should have been trying to do my commercial breaks either before or after the episode and just keep it fluid within. That doesn't mean I'm going to do that all the time, but it means right now, that's the best way I feel like a kid to keep you guys the information that you need. So we're going to get right into this one and uh it's just going to be me this time. So I'm really gonna do my best just to make sure that you're going to get a good understanding of this. All right, so let's talk about five different questions that you're going to get pretty much anywhere if you're going to be working with OSHA and that's the federal occupational Safety and Health administration for the U. S. Uh you may definitely, I should say nothing. You may if you're outside of oceans jurisdiction. Like I do have several different listeners right now. Uh people listen to me Nambia, thank you Philippines. Good. I appreciate the support Canada as well. And those are some of the names that keep coming up on my analytics. So I wanna just tell you guys, I appreciate you today though. The recordkeeping though, it's gonna be OSHA side. It's probably the same standard. I don't know if I could say it that way, but it's probably the same ideology that might be in your government entity as well. So I'm not saying this is going to exclude you from understanding what's happening here in the U. S. Because it doesn't relate with what's happening in your country. But this is going to give you a little understanding of how things are done here in the U. S. And you can compare it to your current standard, good or bad. It doesn't matter. It's just, you know, that's just what it is. It's really, it's like right now you take a snapshot of what it would be for OSHA to call something recordable This time in history. This is the a chord of record ability criteria. So look over that. There's five major questions. And this is how in Osha's decision tree, they have this nice little decision tree in the 1904, that's where we're gonna be. So that's the part 1904 record keeping. Yeah, we're going to talk about these questions. Number one. Did the employee experience an injury or illness? If yes. Then you go down to the next stage, which is, is the injury or illness work related? If yes, then let's go to the next one that says, is the injury or illness? Is a new case is yes. Does end? Does the injury or illness meet the general specific general criteria or application to specific cases? If yes. Now you record it. So that's the baseline understanding. So this uh, episode today, we're just gonna truly talk about those five steps. We'll get into nuances later. And I think next week I'm going to spend more time on the nuances. This week. I'm gonna spend time under foundations. So think of this as foundations for Osho record keeping is really what this episode will be. Yeah. Uh, let me give you another background of this. You're not even background. Just a thought. The reason why I'm doing this is as you can tell, OSHA has been ramping up all the different things that are compliance enforcement in working towards that. Even to the degree that if you go to OSHA dot Gov, the website on their homepage, they tell you they are hiring. So OSHA is literally hiring, they are getting ready to start doing some more compliance assistance and compliance enforcement, doing a little bit of both of those. So I am looking at some of the things that are going to be uh, touch points, let's say it that way. There might be things that are going to come up for you and your organization. And if you are actively a safety consultant, as opposed to some people that are listening to the show, is thinking about it kind of entertaining, toying with that idea. Hi, either or you're gonna end up having to deal with this sometime. Either by representing a client or training, meaning you're delivering the training, especially if you're doing the OSHA training. And then the other thing that you're gonna be delivering is going to be throughout any of this. You're also going to be that individual that is going to uh, you're going to guide your organization is really what that boils down to, You're gonna end up guiding your organization as to how they're going to do this. So question number one, let's get this one first. Did the employee experience an injury or illness. And um, this is coming from the OSHA website. If you go to the OSHA dot gov type and record keeping on the worker keeping page, they actually have a power point presentation um kind of using this as my background and then I'm going to add to it a little bit, a little bit more. Number one, did that employee experienced an endless illness or injury? The definition is an injury or illness is an ab normal condition or disorder. Injuries include cases such as but not limited to a cut fracture, sprain, amputation, illness, including both acute and chronic illnesses such as but not limited to a skin disease, respiratory disorder or poisoning. So those are things that are going to be all related to, is this person experiencing an injury or illness. So what I'm gonna do here is I'm going to go through that presentation. The next thing they would do is literally give you a scenario. So, here's your scenario, scenario number one. That's going to be this. An employee reports to the nurse's station with complain uh complaint of painful risk the employee has given to apples and return to the job. You stop here you go on. The question is, did the employee experience an injury or illness? Mm hmm. Alright, employee goes to the nurse's station network. My wrist hurts. Nurse says, all right, here's a couple of you. All right, Go back to work. Is condition one man. So, I'm gonna give you guys sick and think about it. Let's see. Here's my little music thoughts right here from my from my soundboard. All right, So what do you think for those of you that said that we stop here, meaning that the person was not experiencing an injury or illness because you're just giving them some Andrew they're able to go right back to their job. So, at that point, they're not experiencing an injury or illness. Your answer now, get that one wrong. Uh you do actually go on this person though, gave them the Advil, there's still experiencing what is known as a painful risk. So that is an abnormal condition. So that's one of the things that you really have to make sure that you you think about first is not the treatment that you just gave for the remedy. It's why was this person first in pain? Or is this person first feeling pain? That's probably the better way to experience it or to ask that question. So, number one, if you establish an abnormal condition? All right, you go to the next step. It's not recordable yet. You just know you go to that next step out of the five. It's really tough if it's four. But anyway. But number two is is this thing work related? So that's a key. So here's your definition for determining work relatedness. Work relatedness is presumed for injuries and illnesses resulting from events or exposures occurring in the work environment. And that's a big one to remember work environment unless an exception specifically applies in the case is presumed work related. If and only if an event or exposure in the work environment. Again, that's that phrase that we'll have to look into real close work environment is a discernible cause of the injury or illness or of a significant aggravation to a pre existing condition, discernable. Cause That's another one of those phrases that you're gonna really have to know that it's subjective, but they do have some real good wording that's going to lead you to answering some of your questions. Well, let's go with this one. First question is work related. That's coming up in your brain already here. It formulating you're like, all right, well, what does work related mean? So let's give it to you right now, an exposure, excuse me. An event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a preexisting injury or illness Presumed for injuries and illness resulting from events or exposure occurring in a work environment. So they're saying that this is coming from 1904, section five. So it's literally from the standard. Uh so the condition on this one is did the event caused or contributed to whatever the resulting condition is? And then also it's not and it's or let's just say it that way, you got to be careful what you're working here or did someone already have an existing condition and now, whatever the work activity was, it's caused the flare up to the point that this person, now I can't control it and that's the best way to kind of give you guys a thought process for that one. So that is a work event. And then the phrasing on the next thing that it says, there is presumed for work relating, this is presumed for injuries and illnesses resulting from events and exposures occurring in the work environment. So now we need to know what work environment means. And this is truly this definition here for work environment is the crux of most of the 5050 calls on being recordable or not recordable. A lot of it boils down to 1904, section five as being work environment. So, here's your definition for this are an establishment or other locations where employees are working or are present as a condition of their employment. So first you got to be there and now you're actually there, you're physically working and you're there because you're going to be fired. If you're not, it's a condition of your employment that you have to show up also includes also the equipment and materials used for work. So any time you're literally using that stuff and that's what you're going to be called a working environment for you, significant aggravation is the other one that we're dealing with in this actual definition of work related nous. So if event occurs because of some work exposure and you now have a result in death and loss of consciousness. Days away, days restricted or job transfer or medical treatment in those cases, now you do have a scenario where this is work related. So now you've got to think about the exceptions. So there's plenty of exceptions to the rule, right? There's always exceptions to the rules. So, this one is some of the exceptions that OSHA says. We've gone through a bunch of these things and now we decided that, okay, there are certain rules need to be in place so that there won't be double jeopardy or other things that says, it's so hard for us to mitigate. And I probably shouldn't use that term double jeopardy because it's got a whole bunch of different meetings to it. But really what they're saying with these exceptions, as, uh, as we know that these particular things are not as hazardous or should be counted for some reason is really what it boils down to. So that's what they're, they're working out. That's what they're saying right there. So let's go ahead and think about the next, uh, next part of this. Now we're saying, what is work environment, which work related with all that? So the next best thing that you're thinking about is going to be truly what are exceptions? So first and foremost, if you're in a place in your part of the general public, then if you get injured, it's just like, you know, someone who is not even an employee, someone who just showing up to do whatever they're here. Now that person has an injury and the person's work, like they're not actually, they're working, they're just there because of something. Uh, it could be a community event that's being held, where they're working. It could be something in the realm of blood donation or something where now they're coming in as the actual um, uh, member of the public. Another one symptoms solely due to non work related exposure. So as soon as you get that work related this definition and you're thinking about exposure, uh, if you are doing something not work related, you get exposed to this hazard. Now you come down with something acute to chronic that's not recordable, voluntary participation in wellness programs, fitness centers or recreation programs. You got a company picnic or bullying. There's a big and you get injured. That's a known exception, preparing drinking, eating any food or drink for personal consumption. That's a tricky one. But that is truly saying you could slice a finger off. Actually need to get it put back in place at work. But if your activity was eating, drinking or preparing food for personal consumption, this is a known exception. So therefore at this point, you as being the person who is putting in the OSHA recordable, you don't have to, that's a freebie. Of course, I don't mean to say that the injury itself has no consequences because that person now is suffering. You gotta be empathetic, take care of that person, make sure that they're okay. But as far as recordkeeping for OSHA, that is not a recordable event. So that's that's one of the things that will have to make sure that you really get there. There's a couple more exceptions and they say not work related if So now we're talking about people who are going to say, uh these activities is an interest in the interest of my employer, that's the big term. Uh so these things are in the interest of the employer. I'm not doing it for myself, I'm doing this for the interesting employer. So here's a not work related if personal task outside assigned working hours. So if you're doing that, then at that point you're not doing anything in the interest of the employer, personal grooming, self medication for non working related conditions or intentionally self inflicted and truly in those cases thing I hear the most about is what if someone comes in and they're physically impaired due to substance abuse or substance issue and then the question would be, they meant to get drunk, they meant to get high, they meant to whatever they had an accident that was intentionally self inflicted. No, it's not. Oh, she already came up with the ruling that that is not self inflicted. Here's the cases that one the oceans rulings is this, there was to know, I'll say it this way. Uh, there was one guy who was just, they were about to go ahead and shut down, uh, cut off some of the property or should say some of the workers. So I mean, we're gonna cut whatever percentage of workers. So this guy finds out that the workforce is getting cut at work. And this is an OSHA case. You can see it in a lot of interpretation. Um, he gets upset at this downsizing and he literally punches a locker to the fact that He breaks his 5th metacarpal us. And this is in this letter of interpretation. So at this point I wish he wants to find out or is this a safety director wants to find out, Hey, it's just recordable dude, punch the locker and he said, that's self inflicted. I wish it came back and said no. His intent wasn't to break his fifth metacarpal us. It was to show that he was upset at layoff and therefore that is not uh, exception. And it was a recordable event. So that is one of those things self inflicted. I hear all the time. It's tricky. Motor vehicle accident in the parking lot slash access road during a community is a not work related vehicle and vehicle. Um Common cold or flu. If you got one of those then that is not a recordable event. Mental illness. Unless and if it is one of those things were just getting to the mental illness part uh then work related only if it is something that it is a noticeable condition due to some sort of exposure such as a chemical agent or something that was reacting to this individual that caused that or something similar. So it still has to prove some work related this. In those cases travel status, work related if it occurs while the employees engaged in something that is in the interest of the employer and your place, your hotel, your Airbnb wherever you are is going to be your home away from home. So even though you're on vacation, Excuse me even notification. Even if you're out for work activity shall be no vacation. Even though you're out for work activity, then what's happening is I wish accounts that is you actually being at home. So that's, that's if you are truly away you must, your activity at the time must be doing something in the interest of the employer duties. For personal reasons or say detour. Excuse me For personal reasons, not related to work, I got to go to the bank, you got to go do something and all of a sudden you are now pretty much get yourself a nice little injury going. It could be recordable if you won't do anything outside of the working hours or taking a detour home away from home. This one is going to be tricky. I got to tell you the truth. So in 19 oh four, section five, they have this wording with work related if they, and this is if the employee occurs while the employee is performing work for pay or compensation in home. So think about all the employers that during the pandemic, had a lot of people start working at home. And so this is first you're doing something at home that you're being compensated for, and this is directly related to the performance of the work rather than general home environment, meaning you're doing something in the interest in the employer and you didn't get injured because the kids toys on the floor, you slip on that, and now you're falling down the stairs. So those are some of the things that you're going to end up having to pretty much differentiating. Let's say it that way. I honestly think that in the next couple of years, especially with everyone working at home, that you might end up seeing a case where this is going to go a lot higher that people that are truly doing something in the interest in the employee. Excuse me, in the employer has an injury at home such as corporal tunnel or something similar to that, that we're going to need to start recording those things. How do you do the investigation? I don't know. It's going to get wild. Alright. Step two. Now, is this injury work related? Here's a question related to that one right, employee sprains her ankle and a company parking lot on their way to work. Do you go on meaning is that work related or not? And OSHA says yes because the parking lot exception only applies to motor vehicles. It does not apply to actual people. All right, I'm going to go to the next stage, which is going to be, is this a new case or old case. So basically, if the doctor fills out a form saying that this person is going to be under our care and it's going to be their doctor's note. So here they are under our care and I'm going to give you, uh meaning the employer, I'm going to give you this right here to show you this is the care that we can do for this person when you're done through this plan of care. And then the individual now get signed off by the doctor that says you now actually can go back to work whatever you have your injury. 100%. You are now good to go. So in this case, what's happening is you're going to end up if the person gets injured again, the exact same location of the initial injury after the doctor gave them the clearing to to come back to work, then this is gonna be a new case. So they could be your entry number one, your entry number three, your entry number seven, all with the exact same thing meaning that they injured their shoulder again or they injured they're back again. So in those cases which will end up doing is truly writing it in like a first time each and every time if the person did not get a full release from the doctor but they ended up coming back to work injuring the same part again. So the same shoulder, the same risk the same whatever. Now they're going to basically what you'll do is you'll just do a nice little one line throughout your records and if the doctor had first recommended that it was gonna be three weeks of part time and now he gets re evaluating this is all right. So we're gonna have to restrict him for seven weeks now because of this, it's an update on the records. It's not actually a new file. Uh Let's go through the other two steps. So working our way into, Well, let's keep you one of the scenario. Said OSHA has employee fractures a foot at work every six months or so. It bothers him. He's placed on light duty for a day or two. So in this case was this person a new case every time that they every six months and then kinda sneaks up on them. So, that's the question. All right. So if you said that at this case, it is a new case, then we're gonna go ahead and go on with this one. If you said this is an old case, we're gonna stop here. That's nothing. You're both right. Yeah. And the reason why it just depends. You don't have enough information yet. You don't know a few things. So was this person completely recovered? Meaning did the doctor give them a full note that says they are good to go if they are completely recovered and now they entered the same body part and now that is going to be a condition. That is a new case. If they did not get that release then it is going to be the same case you update your records. Uh General criteria a step for which just means if anything happens as an injury or illness and now all of a sudden it progresses to one or more of the following a person expires there's a death days away uh meaning that they had missed a day or two or something similar to that. Now you get a day away from more restricted work activity means you should be able to live £20. But the doctor says you can only lift five transfer means you can't have you in a field. We're going to have you in office medical treatment beyond first aid, meaning at first it was just a nice first aid case meaning a bandage or something similar to that. But then later on there, like hold on, we need a little bit more. This isn't gonna the bandage isn't cutting it. Now we have to do some sort of prescription medication. All right now, you got into general recording criteria, loss of consciousness, significant injury or illness diagnosed by the professional healthcare licensed healthcare provider. Many of those things happen. And now you do have a case where that one becomes recordable. So those are the five different criteria for what is recordable. And I'm going to stop it with this one. So when we come back next week, we're going to really talk about a couple of things first about how are you going to record like what you're gonna do enter in now? We're gonna talk about establishment versus firm. We're going to talk about a few things with the literal forms that you fill out. So today we're just going to really focus on what we had and that sound with me. I hit the wrong uh hit the wrong button, should be hitting this button. Mm That's the one I need. So when we do come back next week, I'm going to really try to focus in on that one. I really want to make sure that you guys are gonna um digest this part first. Okay, So go ahead and go over this as many times as you need to to really digest it. Get a good understanding of these steps when you do, then we're gonna come back and we'll do the rest of them. So what I'm getting you guys ready for, I'm doing a big event. Uh this one is going to be july 16th and it's gonna be nine a.m. To 3:30 p.m. Eastern daylight time. And truly it is going to be a revealing secrets of OSHA compliance on giving you guys a day worth of my safety consultant Playbook. So what you're gonna have to do is you're gonna have to go to the Sheldon Primus dot com backslash events. So good to Sheldon Primus dot com. You can hear me typing right now because I'm doing it just to make sure I am telling you guys to write email. So Sheldon premise or website, not email. Thank you to an email. So Sheldon primers dot com backslash events with an S. And you're gonna be able to register for the revealing secrets to OSHA compliance. The one day event is going to be held in july and it's going to be july 16th. So right now go to the event page early birdie, early bird pricing seasoning is available And that is going to be only 20 tickets. So it's going to have the early bird pricing of $125. And once that ends, then, now we're going to go into the next phase of pricing, which is general admission. So right now, 125 early bird pricing 20 people you get in there before the the prices will go up for the general admission. So tickets are open right now. They opened up May 1st. So you can go ahead and sign up for the second edition of revealing secrets to OSHA compliance, the safety consultant Playbook. But for now, have yourself a wonderful, wonderful week. Go get them. This episode has been
[00:32:54] spk_1: towered by
[00:32:55] spk_0: safety FM.
[00:00:04] spk_0: This episode is powered by safety FM. Welcome to the safety consultant podcast. I am your host holding private. This is the podcast where I teach you the business of being a safety consultant. Welcome. So I got you guys for another week. This week, we're actually going to start talking about a couple of things leading into OSHA compliance. And I am going to do probably a two weaker on this one. And this is gonna be OSHA compliance regarding specifically OSHA Recordable for injury and illness is So this week I'm gonna start with the basics before we go any crazier and start doing anything like super detailed. There's a lot of detail in the basics, but I really understand that a lot of people get confused with OSHA compliance, especially when it comes to record keeping. Uh, so I'm going to demystify as best as I can and in demystifying. I really want to let you guys know that it is easier than you think though. It is still not completely uh where you don't need some extra help, let's say that way. So here's where I'm gonna, like, I'm going to kind of give you guys uh an overview first before we even get into the topic. So what I'm gonna do is there's five basic questions that you need to ask yourself before you determine if an injury is actually recordable or not. So this is what we're gonna do. I am not going to do any commercials in here, as you guys have noticed that you should have been trying to do my commercial breaks either before or after the episode and just keep it fluid within. That doesn't mean I'm going to do that all the time, but it means right now, that's the best way I feel like a kid to keep you guys the information that you need. So we're going to get right into this one and uh it's just going to be me this time. So I'm really gonna do my best just to make sure that you're going to get a good understanding of this. All right, so let's talk about five different questions that you're going to get pretty much anywhere if you're going to be working with OSHA and that's the federal occupational Safety and Health administration for the U. S. Uh you may definitely, I should say nothing. You may if you're outside of oceans jurisdiction. Like I do have several different listeners right now. Uh people listen to me Nambia, thank you Philippines. Good. I appreciate the support Canada as well. And those are some of the names that keep coming up on my analytics. So I wanna just tell you guys, I appreciate you today though. The recordkeeping though, it's gonna be OSHA side. It's probably the same standard. I don't know if I could say it that way, but it's probably the same ideology that might be in your government entity as well. So I'm not saying this is going to exclude you from understanding what's happening here in the U. S. Because it doesn't relate with what's happening in your country. But this is going to give you a little understanding of how things are done here in the U. S. And you can compare it to your current standard, good or bad. It doesn't matter. It's just, you know, that's just what it is. It's really, it's like right now you take a snapshot of what it would be for OSHA to call something recordable This time in history. This is the a chord of record ability criteria. So look over that. There's five major questions. And this is how in Osha's decision tree, they have this nice little decision tree in the 1904, that's where we're gonna be. So that's the part 1904 record keeping. Yeah, we're going to talk about these questions. Number one. Did the employee experience an injury or illness? If yes. Then you go down to the next stage, which is, is the injury or illness work related? If yes, then let's go to the next one that says, is the injury or illness? Is a new case is yes. Does end? Does the injury or illness meet the general specific general criteria or application to specific cases? If yes. Now you record it. So that's the baseline understanding. So this uh, episode today, we're just gonna truly talk about those five steps. We'll get into nuances later. And I think next week I'm going to spend more time on the nuances. This week. I'm gonna spend time under foundations. So think of this as foundations for Osho record keeping is really what this episode will be. Yeah. Uh, let me give you another background of this. You're not even background. Just a thought. The reason why I'm doing this is as you can tell, OSHA has been ramping up all the different things that are compliance enforcement in working towards that. Even to the degree that if you go to OSHA dot Gov, the website on their homepage, they tell you they are hiring. So OSHA is literally hiring, they are getting ready to start doing some more compliance assistance and compliance enforcement, doing a little bit of both of those. So I am looking at some of the things that are going to be uh, touch points, let's say it that way. There might be things that are going to come up for you and your organization. And if you are actively a safety consultant, as opposed to some people that are listening to the show, is thinking about it kind of entertaining, toying with that idea. Hi, either or you're gonna end up having to deal with this sometime. Either by representing a client or training, meaning you're delivering the training, especially if you're doing the OSHA training. And then the other thing that you're gonna be delivering is going to be throughout any of this. You're also going to be that individual that is going to uh, you're going to guide your organization is really what that boils down to, You're gonna end up guiding your organization as to how they're going to do this. So question number one, let's get this one first. Did the employee experience an injury or illness. And um, this is coming from the OSHA website. If you go to the OSHA dot gov type and record keeping on the worker keeping page, they actually have a power point presentation um kind of using this as my background and then I'm going to add to it a little bit, a little bit more. Number one, did that employee experienced an endless illness or injury? The definition is an injury or illness is an ab normal condition or disorder. Injuries include cases such as but not limited to a cut fracture, sprain, amputation, illness, including both acute and chronic illnesses such as but not limited to a skin disease, respiratory disorder or poisoning. So those are things that are going to be all related to, is this person experiencing an injury or illness. So what I'm gonna do here is I'm going to go through that presentation. The next thing they would do is literally give you a scenario. So, here's your scenario, scenario number one. That's going to be this. An employee reports to the nurse's station with complain uh complaint of painful risk the employee has given to apples and return to the job. You stop here you go on. The question is, did the employee experience an injury or illness? Mm hmm. Alright, employee goes to the nurse's station network. My wrist hurts. Nurse says, all right, here's a couple of you. All right, Go back to work. Is condition one man. So, I'm gonna give you guys sick and think about it. Let's see. Here's my little music thoughts right here from my from my soundboard. All right, So what do you think for those of you that said that we stop here, meaning that the person was not experiencing an injury or illness because you're just giving them some Andrew they're able to go right back to their job. So, at that point, they're not experiencing an injury or illness. Your answer now, get that one wrong. Uh you do actually go on this person though, gave them the Advil, there's still experiencing what is known as a painful risk. So that is an abnormal condition. So that's one of the things that you really have to make sure that you you think about first is not the treatment that you just gave for the remedy. It's why was this person first in pain? Or is this person first feeling pain? That's probably the better way to experience it or to ask that question. So, number one, if you establish an abnormal condition? All right, you go to the next step. It's not recordable yet. You just know you go to that next step out of the five. It's really tough if it's four. But anyway. But number two is is this thing work related? So that's a key. So here's your definition for determining work relatedness. Work relatedness is presumed for injuries and illnesses resulting from events or exposures occurring in the work environment. And that's a big one to remember work environment unless an exception specifically applies in the case is presumed work related. If and only if an event or exposure in the work environment. Again, that's that phrase that we'll have to look into real close work environment is a discernible cause of the injury or illness or of a significant aggravation to a pre existing condition, discernable. Cause That's another one of those phrases that you're gonna really have to know that it's subjective, but they do have some real good wording that's going to lead you to answering some of your questions. Well, let's go with this one. First question is work related. That's coming up in your brain already here. It formulating you're like, all right, well, what does work related mean? So let's give it to you right now, an exposure, excuse me. An event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a preexisting injury or illness Presumed for injuries and illness resulting from events or exposure occurring in a work environment. So they're saying that this is coming from 1904, section five. So it's literally from the standard. Uh so the condition on this one is did the event caused or contributed to whatever the resulting condition is? And then also it's not and it's or let's just say it that way, you got to be careful what you're working here or did someone already have an existing condition and now, whatever the work activity was, it's caused the flare up to the point that this person, now I can't control it and that's the best way to kind of give you guys a thought process for that one. So that is a work event. And then the phrasing on the next thing that it says, there is presumed for work relating, this is presumed for injuries and illnesses resulting from events and exposures occurring in the work environment. So now we need to know what work environment means. And this is truly this definition here for work environment is the crux of most of the 5050 calls on being recordable or not recordable. A lot of it boils down to 1904, section five as being work environment. So, here's your definition for this are an establishment or other locations where employees are working or are present as a condition of their employment. So first you got to be there and now you're actually there, you're physically working and you're there because you're going to be fired. If you're not, it's a condition of your employment that you have to show up also includes also the equipment and materials used for work. So any time you're literally using that stuff and that's what you're going to be called a working environment for you, significant aggravation is the other one that we're dealing with in this actual definition of work related nous. So if event occurs because of some work exposure and you now have a result in death and loss of consciousness. Days away, days restricted or job transfer or medical treatment in those cases, now you do have a scenario where this is work related. So now you've got to think about the exceptions. So there's plenty of exceptions to the rule, right? There's always exceptions to the rules. So, this one is some of the exceptions that OSHA says. We've gone through a bunch of these things and now we decided that, okay, there are certain rules need to be in place so that there won't be double jeopardy or other things that says, it's so hard for us to mitigate. And I probably shouldn't use that term double jeopardy because it's got a whole bunch of different meetings to it. But really what they're saying with these exceptions, as, uh, as we know that these particular things are not as hazardous or should be counted for some reason is really what it boils down to. So that's what they're, they're working out. That's what they're saying right there. So let's go ahead and think about the next, uh, next part of this. Now we're saying, what is work environment, which work related with all that? So the next best thing that you're thinking about is going to be truly what are exceptions? So first and foremost, if you're in a place in your part of the general public, then if you get injured, it's just like, you know, someone who is not even an employee, someone who just showing up to do whatever they're here. Now that person has an injury and the person's work, like they're not actually, they're working, they're just there because of something. Uh, it could be a community event that's being held, where they're working. It could be something in the realm of blood donation or something where now they're coming in as the actual um, uh, member of the public. Another one symptoms solely due to non work related exposure. So as soon as you get that work related this definition and you're thinking about exposure, uh, if you are doing something not work related, you get exposed to this hazard. Now you come down with something acute to chronic that's not recordable, voluntary participation in wellness programs, fitness centers or recreation programs. You got a company picnic or bullying. There's a big and you get injured. That's a known exception, preparing drinking, eating any food or drink for personal consumption. That's a tricky one. But that is truly saying you could slice a finger off. Actually need to get it put back in place at work. But if your activity was eating, drinking or preparing food for personal consumption, this is a known exception. So therefore at this point, you as being the person who is putting in the OSHA recordable, you don't have to, that's a freebie. Of course, I don't mean to say that the injury itself has no consequences because that person now is suffering. You gotta be empathetic, take care of that person, make sure that they're okay. But as far as recordkeeping for OSHA, that is not a recordable event. So that's that's one of the things that will have to make sure that you really get there. There's a couple more exceptions and they say not work related if So now we're talking about people who are going to say, uh these activities is an interest in the interest of my employer, that's the big term. Uh so these things are in the interest of the employer. I'm not doing it for myself, I'm doing this for the interesting employer. So here's a not work related if personal task outside assigned working hours. So if you're doing that, then at that point you're not doing anything in the interest of the employer, personal grooming, self medication for non working related conditions or intentionally self inflicted and truly in those cases thing I hear the most about is what if someone comes in and they're physically impaired due to substance abuse or substance issue and then the question would be, they meant to get drunk, they meant to get high, they meant to whatever they had an accident that was intentionally self inflicted. No, it's not. Oh, she already came up with the ruling that that is not self inflicted. Here's the cases that one the oceans rulings is this, there was to know, I'll say it this way. Uh, there was one guy who was just, they were about to go ahead and shut down, uh, cut off some of the property or should say some of the workers. So I mean, we're gonna cut whatever percentage of workers. So this guy finds out that the workforce is getting cut at work. And this is an OSHA case. You can see it in a lot of interpretation. Um, he gets upset at this downsizing and he literally punches a locker to the fact that He breaks his 5th metacarpal us. And this is in this letter of interpretation. So at this point I wish he wants to find out or is this a safety director wants to find out, Hey, it's just recordable dude, punch the locker and he said, that's self inflicted. I wish it came back and said no. His intent wasn't to break his fifth metacarpal us. It was to show that he was upset at layoff and therefore that is not uh, exception. And it was a recordable event. So that is one of those things self inflicted. I hear all the time. It's tricky. Motor vehicle accident in the parking lot slash access road during a community is a not work related vehicle and vehicle. Um Common cold or flu. If you got one of those then that is not a recordable event. Mental illness. Unless and if it is one of those things were just getting to the mental illness part uh then work related only if it is something that it is a noticeable condition due to some sort of exposure such as a chemical agent or something that was reacting to this individual that caused that or something similar. So it still has to prove some work related this. In those cases travel status, work related if it occurs while the employees engaged in something that is in the interest of the employer and your place, your hotel, your Airbnb wherever you are is going to be your home away from home. So even though you're on vacation, Excuse me even notification. Even if you're out for work activity shall be no vacation. Even though you're out for work activity, then what's happening is I wish accounts that is you actually being at home. So that's, that's if you are truly away you must, your activity at the time must be doing something in the interest of the employer duties. For personal reasons or say detour. Excuse me For personal reasons, not related to work, I got to go to the bank, you got to go do something and all of a sudden you are now pretty much get yourself a nice little injury going. It could be recordable if you won't do anything outside of the working hours or taking a detour home away from home. This one is going to be tricky. I got to tell you the truth. So in 19 oh four, section five, they have this wording with work related if they, and this is if the employee occurs while the employee is performing work for pay or compensation in home. So think about all the employers that during the pandemic, had a lot of people start working at home. And so this is first you're doing something at home that you're being compensated for, and this is directly related to the performance of the work rather than general home environment, meaning you're doing something in the interest in the employer and you didn't get injured because the kids toys on the floor, you slip on that, and now you're falling down the stairs. So those are some of the things that you're going to end up having to pretty much differentiating. Let's say it that way. I honestly think that in the next couple of years, especially with everyone working at home, that you might end up seeing a case where this is going to go a lot higher that people that are truly doing something in the interest in the employee. Excuse me, in the employer has an injury at home such as corporal tunnel or something similar to that, that we're going to need to start recording those things. How do you do the investigation? I don't know. It's going to get wild. Alright. Step two. Now, is this injury work related? Here's a question related to that one right, employee sprains her ankle and a company parking lot on their way to work. Do you go on meaning is that work related or not? And OSHA says yes because the parking lot exception only applies to motor vehicles. It does not apply to actual people. All right, I'm going to go to the next stage, which is going to be, is this a new case or old case. So basically, if the doctor fills out a form saying that this person is going to be under our care and it's going to be their doctor's note. So here they are under our care and I'm going to give you, uh meaning the employer, I'm going to give you this right here to show you this is the care that we can do for this person when you're done through this plan of care. And then the individual now get signed off by the doctor that says you now actually can go back to work whatever you have your injury. 100%. You are now good to go. So in this case, what's happening is you're going to end up if the person gets injured again, the exact same location of the initial injury after the doctor gave them the clearing to to come back to work, then this is gonna be a new case. So they could be your entry number one, your entry number three, your entry number seven, all with the exact same thing meaning that they injured their shoulder again or they injured they're back again. So in those cases which will end up doing is truly writing it in like a first time each and every time if the person did not get a full release from the doctor but they ended up coming back to work injuring the same part again. So the same shoulder, the same risk the same whatever. Now they're going to basically what you'll do is you'll just do a nice little one line throughout your records and if the doctor had first recommended that it was gonna be three weeks of part time and now he gets re evaluating this is all right. So we're gonna have to restrict him for seven weeks now because of this, it's an update on the records. It's not actually a new file. Uh Let's go through the other two steps. So working our way into, Well, let's keep you one of the scenario. Said OSHA has employee fractures a foot at work every six months or so. It bothers him. He's placed on light duty for a day or two. So in this case was this person a new case every time that they every six months and then kinda sneaks up on them. So, that's the question. All right. So if you said that at this case, it is a new case, then we're gonna go ahead and go on with this one. If you said this is an old case, we're gonna stop here. That's nothing. You're both right. Yeah. And the reason why it just depends. You don't have enough information yet. You don't know a few things. So was this person completely recovered? Meaning did the doctor give them a full note that says they are good to go if they are completely recovered and now they entered the same body part and now that is going to be a condition. That is a new case. If they did not get that release then it is going to be the same case you update your records. Uh General criteria a step for which just means if anything happens as an injury or illness and now all of a sudden it progresses to one or more of the following a person expires there's a death days away uh meaning that they had missed a day or two or something similar to that. Now you get a day away from more restricted work activity means you should be able to live £20. But the doctor says you can only lift five transfer means you can't have you in a field. We're going to have you in office medical treatment beyond first aid, meaning at first it was just a nice first aid case meaning a bandage or something similar to that. But then later on there, like hold on, we need a little bit more. This isn't gonna the bandage isn't cutting it. Now we have to do some sort of prescription medication. All right now, you got into general recording criteria, loss of consciousness, significant injury or illness diagnosed by the professional healthcare licensed healthcare provider. Many of those things happen. And now you do have a case where that one becomes recordable. So those are the five different criteria for what is recordable. And I'm going to stop it with this one. So when we come back next week, we're going to really talk about a couple of things first about how are you going to record like what you're gonna do enter in now? We're gonna talk about establishment versus firm. We're going to talk about a few things with the literal forms that you fill out. So today we're just going to really focus on what we had and that sound with me. I hit the wrong uh hit the wrong button, should be hitting this button. Mm That's the one I need. So when we do come back next week, I'm going to really try to focus in on that one. I really want to make sure that you guys are gonna um digest this part first. Okay, So go ahead and go over this as many times as you need to to really digest it. Get a good understanding of these steps when you do, then we're gonna come back and we'll do the rest of them. So what I'm getting you guys ready for, I'm doing a big event. Uh this one is going to be july 16th and it's gonna be nine a.m. To 3:30 p.m. Eastern daylight time. And truly it is going to be a revealing secrets of OSHA compliance on giving you guys a day worth of my safety consultant Playbook. So what you're gonna have to do is you're gonna have to go to the Sheldon Primus dot com backslash events. So good to Sheldon Primus dot com. You can hear me typing right now because I'm doing it just to make sure I am telling you guys to write email. So Sheldon premise or website, not email. Thank you to an email. So Sheldon primers dot com backslash events with an S. And you're gonna be able to register for the revealing secrets to OSHA compliance. The one day event is going to be held in july and it's going to be july 16th. So right now go to the event page early birdie, early bird pricing seasoning is available And that is going to be only 20 tickets. So it's going to have the early bird pricing of $125. And once that ends, then, now we're going to go into the next phase of pricing, which is general admission. So right now, 125 early bird pricing 20 people you get in there before the the prices will go up for the general admission. So tickets are open right now. They opened up May 1st. So you can go ahead and sign up for the second edition of revealing secrets to OSHA compliance, the safety consultant Playbook. But for now, have yourself a wonderful, wonderful week. Go get them. This episode has been
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