California Code of Regulations › Title 8 - Industrial Relations › Division 1 - Department of Industrial Relations › Chapter 7 - Department of Industrial Relations › Subchapter 1 - Occupational Injury or Illness Reports and Records › Article 2 - Employer Records of Occupational Injury or Illness › Section 14300.5 - Determination of Work-Relatedness

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a) Basic requirement. You must consider an
					 injury or illness to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work
					 environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or
					 significantly aggravated a pre-existing injury or illness. Work-relatedness is
					 presumed for injuries and illnesses resulting from events or exposures
					 occurring in the work environment, unless an exception in Section
					 14300.5(b)(2)
					 specifically applies.
(b)
					 Implementation.
(1) What is the "work
					 environment"?
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 his or her work."
(2) Are there situations where an injury or
					 illness occurs in the work environment and is not considered work-related?
Yes. 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:
(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). For
					 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.
NOTE: 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 their 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 is 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
					 (Note: contagious diseases such as tuberculosis, brucellosis, hepatitis A, 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) How do I handle a case if it is not
					 obvious whether the precipitating event or exposure occurred in the work
					 environment or occurred away from work?
In these situations, you must evaluate the employee's
						work duties and environment to decide whether or not 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) How do I know
					 if an event or exposure in the work environment "significantly aggravated" a
					 pre-existing injury or illness?
A pre-existing injury or illness has been significantly
						aggravated, for purposes of Cal/OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping required
						by this Article, 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 where 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) Which injuries and illnesses are
					 considered 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)
					 How do I decide whether an injury or illness is work-related if the employee is
					 on travel status at the time the injury or illness occurs?
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 such 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:
EXCEPTION 1: When a traveling employee checks into a
						hotel, motel, or other temporary residence, he or she establishes a "home away
						from home." You must evaluate the employee's activities after he or she checks
						into the hotel, motel, or other temporary residence for their work-relatedness
						in the same manner as you evaluate the activities of a non-traveling employee.
						When the employee checks into the temporary residence, he or she is considered
						to have left the work environment. When the employee begins work each day, he
						or she re-enters the work environment. If the employee has established a "home
						away from home" and is reporting to a fixed worksite each day, you also do not
						consider injuries or illnesses work-related if they occur while the employee is
						commuting between the temporary residence and the job location.
EXCEPTION 2: 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) How do I
					 decide if a case is work-related when the employee is working 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. For example, if an employee drops a box of work documents and
						injures his or her foot, the case is considered work-related. If an employee's
						fingernail is punctured by a needle from a sewing machine used to perform
						garment work at home, becomes infected and requires medical treatment, the
						injury is considered work-related. If an employee is injured because he or she
						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.