Recording disputed injury and illness claims

NOTICE: This is an OSHA Archive Document, and may no longer represent OSHA Policy. It is presented here as historical content, for research and review purposes only.

June 21, 1993

Mr. Jerry A. Carter
[Recipient address omitted]
Dear Mr. Carter:

Thank you for your letter dated June 1, requesting an interpretation for recording disputed injury and illness cases on the OSHA Log. I will refer to the enclosed Recordkeeping Guidelines for Occupational Injuries and Illnesses by stating page and Q&A numbers when appropriate.

For OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping purposes, injuries and illnesses that result from an event or exposure on the employer's premises are presumed to be work related (page 32, Section C(1). Furthermore, when no identifiable event or exposure can be attributed to an employee's injury or illness, if it seems likely that an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the case, the case is to be considered work related (page 32, B-17).

Section B. on pages 25 and 26 of the Guidelines states that the employers have the ultimate responsibility for making recordkeeping determinations. Those decisions are not to be made arbitrarily. If an employer doubts the validity of an employee's alleged injury or illness and there is no substantive or medical evidence supporting the allegation, the employer need not record the case. Questionable cases should be recorded on the Log and lined out at a later date if they are found not to be recordable.

It is not necessary to have a medical authority (R.N. or M.D.) make OSHA recordkeeping decisions. However, when a medical opinion does exist, OSHA considers that opinion to be authoritative. If there are conflicting medical opinions, an employer is to use good-faith in deciding which opinion is more valid.

I hope you find this information useful. If you have any further questions, please contact my staff at Area Code (202) 219-6463.

Sincerely,
Stephen A. Newell
Director
Office of Statistics

Enclosure