Recording an injury that restricts normal work activity

NOTICE: This is an OSHA Archive Document, and may no longer represent OSHA Policy. It is presented here as historical content, for research and review purposes only.

April 17, 1989

Mr. Michael S. McCauley
Quarles & Brady
[Recipient address omitted]
Dear Mr. McCauley:

This is in response to your letter of March 28, addressed to former Assistant Secretary John A. Pendergrass, in which you requested the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) interpretation of whether your "hypothetical fact situation" injury constituted a restriction of work activity. You also stated that OSHA regulations provided little guidance in this matter and that the Bureau of Labor Statistics'(BLS) "Recordkeeping Guidelines for Occupational Injuries and Illnesses" (copy enclosed) did not precisely cover your situation.

We have reviewed the BLS Guidelines booklet, the instructions printed on the OSHA 200 log, your letter, and the additional information you provided to Mr. Dillard of my staff during an April 6 telephone discussion. It is OSHA's position that your described injury should be recorded on the OSHA 200 log as a restriction of work or motion. This view is based on the following pages and sections in the BLS booklet: page 43, 3; page 48, 2; page 49, B9; page 51, B20A; page 61, Definitions; and page 64 (IV), columns 5 and 12, section 3. Particular attention should be paid to the phrase "employee...is unable to perform all or any part of his or her normal assignment during all or any part of the working day or shift." This phrase is found in most of the excerpted sections of the booklet.

In your telephone conversation with Mr. Dillard, you stated that your injured employee now spends 100 percent of his time sitting, rather than the normal 33 percent, a situation you stated was due to an injury. This situation, in our opinion, is a restriction of work activity, and falls within the guidelines that were excerpted from the BLS Guidelines booklet.

Please feel free to contact Mr. Dillard (523-8041) if you have further questions.

Sincerely,
Thomas J. Shepich, Director
Directorate of Compliance programs

Enclosure

[Requester letter reproduced on OSHA page; omitted here.]