CONN-OSHA Answers Your Safety Questions: February 2024

Welcome to our monthly column featuring CONN-OSHA experts answering some of the most commonly asked safety questions from CBIA member companies.

Most of the responses from Catherine Zinsser, a CONN-OSHA occupational safety training specialist, will be on recordkeeping since that is the focus of most questions she fields.

But if you’d like to ask her a question on another topic, please email CBIA’s Phillip Montgomery.

He will treat all questions confidentially and never share any identifying company information with CONN-OSHA or anyone else.

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Q: An employee twists their knee and is treated with a non-prescription medication and sent for an MRI. Following the MRI, it is determined that there was no injury to the knee but the patient was diagnosed with arthritis and treated with a prescription strength medication for the arthritis. Is this a recordable case?

A: If the arthritis is wholly caused by non-work factors, then it is not work-related and should not be recorded in the OSHA records.

Q: A doctor places an employee on restricted duty but the employer can not accommodate the restrictions and, as a result, the employee is losing time. Are the lost days recorded as lost time or restricted duty?

A: You must count the days as days away from work. To count days as restricted days, restricted work activity must be made available to the employee.

Q: Recently we had an employee bump their knee on a forklift. After an emergency room visit, they were given no restrictions and missed no work. They worked for a week without any problems until the weekend. While carrying their child on a walk, they aggravated the same knee and required medical attention including time off. Is this a recordable case?

A: No. Non-work related aggravation of a non-recordable injury does not make a case recordable.

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For more information, contact CBIA’s Phillip Montgomery (860.244.1982).