Injuries sustained in a crash during an off-hours trip to work should be recorded as a work-related injury, according to OSHA.
The agency addresses this topic in a new standard interpretation letter that presents the following scenario:
As part of his normal workday, an employee commutes in his personally-owned vehicle from home to the workplace. At the end of his shift, the employee commutes from the workplace to his home. Later that same day, there is an emergency at the workplace, and the employee’s supervisor calls him to return to work. The employee starts driving back to the workplace, but is involved in a crash resulting in an injury and hospitalization.
Can that injury be considered recordable?
In the letter, OSHA says that while injuries and illnesses occurring during an employee’s normal commute from home to work, and from work to home, aren’t work-related and not recordable, the scenario presented above is a different case.
Since the employee is traveling back to work “in the interest of the employer” then his travel becomes work-related and any injuries sustained during that travel time would be recordable.
