The January 4, 2022 letter describes an employee who commutes in his personal vehicle from home to work, finishes his 8-hour shift, and commutes home. Later the same day, his supervisor calls him back to help resolve a workplace emergency. Driving back, he is involved in a motor vehicle accident that results in injury and hospitalization. The question: is that injury recordable?
OSHA started with the work-relatedness framework: under 29 CFR 1904.5(a), an injury is work-related 'if an event or exposure in the work environment caused or contributed to the injury or illness or significantly aggravated a pre-existing injury or illness,' with the work environment defined at 1904.5(b)(1) as the establishment and other locations where employees work or are present as a condition of employment. OSHA's longstanding position, from the preamble to the 2001 recordkeeping rule, is that 'injuries and illnesses that occur during an employee's normal commute from home to work, and from work to home, are not work-related and therefore not recordable' — a normal commute is a personal activity within the employee's control, and it ends once the employee arrives at the work environment or starts traveling 'in the interest of the employer.'
But this trip was not a normal commute. The employee had already completed his commute to and from work for the day and was directed back by the employer to assist with a work-related emergency. Because he was required to return outside his normal commute, he was engaged in a work activity 'in the interest of the employer' and traveling as a 'condition of employment' — consistent with 1904.5(b)(6), which makes travel-status injuries work-related when the employee is working in the employer's interest. The resulting injury and hospitalization are work-related and must be recorded on the OSHA 300 log.