Is It Recordable?
Scenario Q119

Responding to After-Hours Emergency: is it recordable?

Verdict: Recordable
Published 2021-01-17

Question

A safety manager receives a call at 1:30a regarding a serious injury that occurred to an employee during the night shift. The safety manager is required by his job responsibilities to drive to the hospital from his home to begin an investigation. On the way to the hospital, the groggy safety manager's company cell phone rings and as he reaches over to grab his cell phone he veers off of the road and rolls his vehicle into a ditch. He breaks some ribs and needs stitches as a result of the accident. Is it recordable?

Answer

YES. Although typically the commute from the home to work is considered an excepted activity, when the employee is driving as a condition of employment from home to a work environment outside of the normal commute, any injuries that occur are considered work-related.

Letter of Interpretation: "...an accident during a commute is work-related where the mode of travel is a condition of employment."

Illustration for the scenario: Responding to After-Hours Emergency

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This is guidance based on 29 CFR Part 1904 and OSHA letters of interpretation. Facts and details may be altered or fictional. As specified by OSHA, the employer is responsible for the final recordability determination.