December 22, 1995

Mr. Randall J. Burt
Manager, Corporate Safety
Baxter Healthcare Corporation
One Baxter Parkway
Deerfield, Illinois 60015-4633

Dear Mr. Burt:

Thank you for your letter dated November 17, requesting interpretations concerning the proper recording of several cases involving restricted work activity. I will address your questions in the order they were presented and will refer to the Recordkeeping Guidelines for Occupational Injuries and Illnesses by citing the appropriate page and Q&A numbers wherever possible.

For OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping purposes, the concept of restricted work is based on three criteria as follows:

1. The employee was assigned to another job on a temporary basis, or

2. the employee worked at a permanent job less than full time, or

3. the employee worked at his or her permanently assigned job but could not perform all the duties normally connected with it. (page 48, section 2)

Historically, the phrase, "employee's normal job duties" has been interpreted to include any tasks that the employee performs or may be expected to perform throughout the calendar year.

Scenario 1: This case should be recorded as a lost time injury involving days away from work. If an employee suffers a work related injury or illness and is unable to report to the work establishment, the time lost must be counted as days away from work regardless of whether that employee was able to perform work at his or her personal residence.

Scenario 2: This case should be recorded as a lost time injury involving days away from work. If an employee suffers a work related injury or illness and is unable to report to the work establishment, the time lost must be counted as days away from work regardless of whether that employee was able to perform work at his or her personal residence. When counting days away from work, the employer should not count days on which the employee would not have traveled to work even if he or she could do so. Therefore, if the employee would have telecommuted on a given day whether that employee was injured or not, the day should not be counted as a day away from work. If, however, the employee would normally have traveled to work but could not due to the injury, the day should be counted as a day away from work.

Scenario 3: This case should be counted as a lost time injury involving days of restricted work activity. As long as the employee performs work at the work establishment (or other designated area other than the employee's personal residence), the days should be counted as days of restricted work activity.

Scenario 4: This case should be counted as a lost time injury involving days of restricted work activity. As long as the employee performs work at the work establishment (or other designated area other than the employee's personal residence), the days should be counted as days of restricted work activity.

Scenario 5: If the employer and the employer's physician feel absolutely certain that the employee is able to perform all of his or her normal work duties, the case should not be entered on the OSHA Log as a lost workday case. The case should be well documented as to why days away from work and days of restricted work activity are not being counted. If, however, the employer has any doubt as to the employee's ability to perform all of his or normal work duties, the case should be recorded as a lost workday case. (page 26, Q&A B-2 and page 50, Q&A B-15)

Scenario 6: On the assumption that you meant the employee telecommuted on a regular basis, this case should not be recorded as a lost time injury. When counting days away from work, the employer should not count days on which the employee would not have traveled to work even if he or she can do so. Therefore, if the employee would have telecommuted anyway, the days should not be counted as a days away from work. If, however, the employee would normally have traveled to work but could not due to the injury, the case should be recorded as a lost time injury and the days should be counted as a days away from work.

I hope you find this information useful. If you have any further questions, please contact us at Area Code: (202) 219-6463.

Sincerely,



Stephen A. Newell
Director
Office of Statistics