CONN-OSHA Answers Your Safety Questions: March 2022

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: Our custodian on the second shift was recently attacked while working on the second shift by someone who had broken into the company’s warehouse. He suffered serious injuries which caused him to be hospitalized for a few days. Is the accident recordable since the assault is not tied to his job function?

A: If the injury meets the recording criteria, it should be recorded regardless of the criminal activity. 

In this case, the employee’s injury resulted in injuries that caused treatment beyond first-aid and the employee missed days from work, therefore it should be recorded.

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Q: If two employees were injured in one work-related car accident does this get recorded as one or two cases on the OSHA log?

A: OSHA’s recordkeeping system tracks work-related recordable injuries and illnesses. If both injuries meet the general recording criteria of Section 1904.7 or the application to specific criteria of Section 1904.8 through Section 1904.11, both cases should be recorded on the log as two separate cases.

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Q: May employers attach missing information to their accident investigation or workers’ compensation forms to make them an acceptable substitute form for the OSHA 301 for recordkeeping purposes?

A: Yes, an employer may use a workers’ compensation form or other form that does not contain all the required information, provided the form is supplemented to contain the missing information, and the supplemented form is as readable and understandable as the OSHA 301 form and is completed using the same instructions as the OSHA 301 form.

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