CONN-OSHA Answers Your Safety Questions: April 2022

04.12.2022
FAQ
HR & Safety

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.


Q: A doctor places an employee on restricted duty but the employer cannot accommodate the restrictions. 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: An employee reports an injury, but does not see a physician for a period of time (a week, for example) and continues to work during that period. Then the physician lists a work restriction. Would I count the calendar days from the day after the injury or from the date the physician started the restricted duty?

A: Start counting the number of calendar days for restricted work when the physician assigned the restricted work activity.


Q: An employee suffered a blow to the head during the scope of employment. After having been sent to the clinic for evaluation, he was given two days off from work (the date of injury and the following day) as a precaution to watch for signs of a concussion or other brain trauma.

Nothing was found and the employee was returned to work full duty on the third day, with a final evaluation a week later to release from medical care. Because the day off was given as precaution, does this make it a recordable day away from work even though the employee was deemed ok and later released to full duty?

A: The day following the date of injury is considered a day away from work and makes the case recordable. The fact that the day away was put in place for precautionary reasons is not a consideration of whether the case is OSHA recordable.


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

Tags:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay Connected with CBIA News Digests

The latest news and information delivered directly to your inbox.

CBIA IS FIGHTING TO MAKE CONNECTICUT A TOP STATE FOR BUSINESS, JOBS, AND ECONOMIC GROWTH. A BETTER BUSINESS CLIMATE MEANS A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR EVERYONE.