This video will give you the basic information on how
to determine a work related injury. For OSHA recordkeeping
purposes. Let's begin by looking at a couple of
terms that OSHA uses and how OSHA defines them.
Knowing these definitions is very important to understanding the process
of determining if an injury or illness is work related.
The first two terms we will look at
are injury and illness, then we will learn what
the term work related means for OSHA recordkeeping purposes
OSHA defines an injury or illness as an abnormal
condition or disorder. Injuries and illnesses include cases such
as cuts, fractures, sprains, skin diseases,
or respiratory conditions. For OSHA recordkeeping purposes and injury
or illness can also consist of only subjective symptoms such
as aches or pain. Exposures that do not result in
Signs or symptoms are not considered injuries or illnesses and
should therefore not be recorded on the OSHA forms.
For example, if an employee is exposed to chlorine
and does not exhibit any signs or symptoms due to
The exposure, the case would not be recorded on
The OSHA 300 form, even if it involves prophylactic
that is preventative medical treatment, injuries or illnesses that
are caused, contributed to or significantly aggravated by events
Or exposures and the work environment are considered work related
For OSHA recordkeeping purposes. Work relatedness is presumed for
injuries and illnesses occurring in the workplace or in locations
where the employee is located as a condition of employment.
It's important to remember that if work makes any
contribution to the injury or illness, it is considered
Work related for osha recordkeeping purposes. There are certain
Activities that occur in the work environment that osha does
not consider work related. An injury or illness occurring
in the work environment that falls under one of
the following exceptions is not work related and therefore is
not recordable. There are certain activities that occur in
the work environment that OSHA does not consider work related.
For example, injuries resulting directly from eating,
drinking or preparing food for personal consumption at the workplace
are not considered work related. For a complete list of
these activities, referred to the table on this screenshot from
Section 1904.5(b)(2) of the OSHA recordkeeping
standard. If an injury or illness is not work
related, it is not recordable and does not need
to be recorded on the OSHA 300 log. But
if an injury or illness is determined to be work
related, then the next thing to do is to
ask, is it a new injury or illness case
for the employee? An injury or illness is a
new case when an employee has not previously experienced a
recorded injury or illness of the same type that affects
The same part of the body or the employee previously
experienced a recorded injury or illness of the same type
that affected the same part of the body that had
recovered completely (all signs and symptoms had disappeared) from
the previous injury or illness and an event or exposure
in the work environment caused the signs or symptoms to
reappear. When it has been determined that an injury or
Illness is work related and is a new case.
Another question to ask is, did the injury or
illness meet one or more of the six crew criteria
For recording work related injuries and illnesses, work related
Injuries and illnesses that result in death, loss of consciousness,
days away from work, restricted work activity,
transferred to another job, or medical treatment beyond first aid
must be recorded on the OSHA 300 recordkeeping form. Based
on what we have covered, we learned that any
work-related injury or illness that meets certain severity criteria
must be entered on the OSHA 300 form. Additionally
an injury or illness must be entered on the
form within seven calendar days of learning about its occurrence
This decision tree for recording work related injuries and
illnesses shows the steps involved in making this determination.
Let's wrap things up with this key point summary.
When an injury or illness is reported, the first
step is to determine if it is work related.
If it is not work related, it is not
recordable. If an injury or illness is work related,
ask if it is a new case for the employee.
If an injury or illness is work related,
a new case, and has met one or more of
the general criteria, it is recordable.