§ 1904.5 Determination of work-relatedness.
Basic requirement. You must consider an injury or illness to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing injury or illness. Work-relatedness is presumed for injuries and illnesses resulting from events or exposures occurring in the work environment, unless an exception in § 1904.5(b)(2) specifically applies.
Implementation. (1) What is the “work environment”? OSHA defines the work environment as “the establishment and other locations where one or more employees are working or are present as a condition of their employment. The work environment includes not only physical locations, but also the equipment or materials used by the employee during the course of his or her work.”
Are there situations where an injury or illness occurs in the work environment and is not considered work-related? Yes, an injury or illness occurring in the work environment that falls under one of the following exceptions is not work-related, and therefore is not recordable.
How do I handle a case if it is not obvious whether the precipitating event or exposure occurred in the work environment or occurred away from work? In these situations, you must evaluate the employee's work duties and environment to decide whether or not one or more events or exposures in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.
How do I know if an event or exposure in the work environment “significantly aggravated” a preexisting injury or illness? A preexisting injury or illness has been significantly aggravated, for purposes of OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping, when an event or exposure in the work environment results in any of the following:
Death, provided that the preexisting injury or illness would likely not have resulted in death but for the occupational event or exposure.
Loss of consciousness, provided that the preexisting injury or illness would likely not have resulted in loss of consciousness but for the occupational event or exposure.
One or more days away from work, or days of restricted work, or days of job transfer that otherwise would not have occurred but for the occupational event or exposure.
Medical treatment in a case where no medical treatment was needed for the injury or illness before the workplace event or exposure, or a change in medical treatment was necessitated by the workplace event or exposure.
Which injuries and illnesses are considered pre-existing conditions? An injury or illness is a preexisting condition if it resulted solely from a non-work-related event or exposure that occured outside the work environment.
How do I decide whether an injury or illness is work-related if the employee is on travel status at the time the injury or illness occurs? Injuries and illnesses that occur while an employee is on travel status are work-related if, at the time of the injury or illness, the employee was engaged in work activities “in the interest of the employer.” Examples of such activities include travel to and from customer contacts, conducting job tasks, and entertaining or being entertained to transact, discuss, or promote business (work-related entertainment includes only entertainment activities being engaged in at the direction of the employer).
Injuries or illnesses that occur when the employee is on travel status do not have to be recorded if they meet one of the exceptions listed below.
How do I decide if a case is work-related when the employee is working at home? Injuries and illnesses that occur while an employee is working at home, including work in a home office, will be considered work-related if the injury or illness occurs while the employee is performing work for pay or compensation in the home, and the injury or illness is directly related to the performance of work rather than to the general home environment or setting. For example, if an employee drops a box of work documents and injures his or her foot, the case is considered work-related. If an employee's fingernail is punctured by a needle from a sewing machine used to perform garment work at home, becomes infected and requires medical treatment, the injury is considered work-related. If an employee is injured because he or she trips on the family dog while rushing to answer a work phone call, the case is not considered work-related. If an employee working at home is electrocuted because of faulty home wiring, the injury is not considered work-related.
| 1904.5(b)(2) | You are not required to record injuries and illnesses if . . . |
|---|---|
| (i) | At the time of the injury or illness, the employee was present in the work environment as a member of the general public rather than as an employee. |
| (ii) | The injury or illness involves signs or symptoms that surface at work but result solely from a non-work-related event or exposure that occurs outside the work environment. |
| (iii) | The injury or illness results solely from voluntary participation in a wellness program or in a medical, fitness, or recreational activity such as blood donation, physical examination, flu shot, exercise class, racquetball, or baseball. |
| (iv) | The injury or illness is solely the result of an employee eating, drinking, or preparing food or drink for personal consumption (whether bought on the employer's premises or brought in). For example, if the employee is injured by choking on a sandwich while in the employer's establishment, the case would not be considered work-related. |
| Note: If the employee is made ill by ingesting food contaminated by workplace contaminants (such as lead), or gets food poisoning from food supplied by the employer, the case would be considered work-related. | |
| (v) | The injury or illness is solely the result of an employee doing personal tasks (unrelated to their employment) at the establishment outside of the employee's assigned working hours. |
| (vi) | The injury or illness is solely the result of personal grooming, self medication for a non-work-related condition, or is intentionally self-inflicted. |
| (vii) | The injury or illness is caused by a motor vehicle accident and occurs on a company parking lot or company access road while the employee is commuting to or from work. |
| (viii) | The illness is the common cold or flu (Note: contagious diseases such as tuberculosis, brucellosis, hepatitis A, or plague are considered work-related if the employee is infected at work). |
| (ix) | The illness is a mental illness. Mental illness will not be considered work-related unless the employee voluntarily provides the employer with an opinion from a physician or other licensed health care professional with appropriate training and experience (psychiatrist, psychologist, psychiatric nurse practitioner, etc.) stating that the employee has a mental illness that is work-related. |
| 1904.5 (b)(6) | If the employee has . . . | You may use the following to determine if an injury or illness is work-related |
|---|---|---|
| (i) | checked into a hotel or motel for one or more days | When a traveling employee checks into a hotel, motel, or into an other temporary residence, he or she establishes a “home away from home.” You must evaluate the employee's activities after he or she checks into the hotel, motel, or other temporary residence for their work-relatedness in the same manner as you evaluate the activities of a non-traveling employee. When the employee checks into the temporary residence, he or she is considered to have left the work environment. When the employee begins work each day, he or she re-enters the work environment. If the employee has established a “home away from home” and is reporting to a fixed worksite each day, you also do not consider injuries or illnesses work-related if they occur while the employee is commuting between the temporary residence and the job location. |
| (ii) | taken a detour for personal reasons | Injuries or illnesses are not considered work-related if they occur while the employee is on a personal detour from a reasonably direct route of travel ( e.g., has taken a side trip for personal reasons). |
Text reproduced verbatim from the eCFR, edition 2026-01-01, retrieved 2026-07-19. A US Government work in the public domain under 17 U.S.C. 105.
34 OSHA interpretations of § 1904.5
How OSHA has applied this section
Letters of Interpretation are OSHA answering specific questions on specific facts. They explain the requirement above but cannot create additional obligations, and a later letter can supersede an earlier one. Newest first.
- 2024-06-12
Determining if an employee’s death would be work-related when involved in a motor vehicle accident
- 2023-05-17
Determining if injuries or illnesses are work-related as a result of an act of violence
- 2022-01-04
Determining if injuries or illnesses are work-related when involved in a motor vehicle accident
- 2021-03-17
Determining if Injuries and Illnesses are work-related when employees commute from home to work and from a hotel to a worksite.
- 2021-03-17
Determining whether to record an employee’s injury that involved both work-related and non-work-related incidents.
- 2021-03-17
Determining the recordability of an illness when an employee uses a rescue inhaler following an exposure in the work place.
- 2020-10-05
Determining if injuries and illnesses are work-related when employees participate in off-site voluntary charitable activity.
- 2016-08-23
Determining work-related injuries for accidents that occur on a public road or highway
- 2016-08-23
Determining if the work-related injury or illness would apply to the work-related exception 1904.5(b)(2)(ii)
- 2016-04-29
Recording criteria for cases involving occupational hearing loss when employees use hearing protection
- 2015-11-06
Clarification on the work-related exemption involving personal tasks outside the assigned working hours
- 2015-10-19
Determining whether an injury or illness is work-related and recordable
- 2014-10-20
Determining work-relatedness for injuries while on travel status
- 2014-08-18
Determining work-relatedness for pre-existing condition.
- 2014-02-28
Clarification of a pre-existing injury or illness and recordable events
- 2011-02-25
Clarification of the terms most authoritative and pre-existing conditions as used for recordkeeping purposes.
- 2010-04-22
Clarification on recordkeeping exemption for illness resulting from consuming food in the workplace.
- 2010-02-16
Clarification of assigned working hours when recording work-related injuires/illnesses.
- 2009-10-06
Clarification of preexisting injury/illness and recordkeeping
- 2009-03-31
Clarification of the term self-inflicted as used in the Recordkeeping standard
- 2009-02-09
Determining work-relatedness for recordkeeping of injury resulting from horseplay.
- 2008-08-26
Clarification of several recordkeeping scenarios regarding days away from work, restricted work activity, and work-relatedness.
- 2008-07-14
Whether to record two cases of employee injuries sustained in company parking lot during employees commute to work.
- 2007-10-29
Determining whether injuries in the company parking lot during paid company break are work-related.
- 2007-08-29
Clarification of 1910.95 and 1904 regarding physicians and audiologists roles in determining work-relatedness of worker hearing loss.
- 2007-04-03
Recording an injury when employer is provided with different medical opinions.
- 2007-02-06
Whether to record injuries that occur to employees who travel from an offshore manned platform complex or dock to other offshore platforms.
- 2007-02-06
Whether to record injuries that occur to a contract employee when traveling from an offshore manned platform complex to other downfield fixed platforms.
- 2006-05-12
Determination of work-relatedness on a construction site.
- 2005-09-01
29 CFR Part 1904 OSHA Recordkeeping Regulation applies only within the jurisdictional boundaries of the United States and certain locations listed in OSHAct Sec. 4(a).
- 2004-01-15
Evaluation of seven scenarios for work-relatedness and recordkeeping requirements.
- 2004-01-13
Determining work-relatedness when the work event or exposure is only one of the discernable causes; not the sole or predominant cause.
- 2002-11-19
Clarification on determining if an injury or illness is work-related and the recordability of the administration of oxygen.
- 2002-02-06
OSHA's no-fault recordkeeping system requires recording work-related injuries and illnesses, regardless of the level of employer control or non-control involved.
Part-level source: eCFR API, Title 29 Part 1904.
Not legal advice. This page republishes 29 CFR Part 1904 as published by the eCFR and explains it. The recordkeeping duty is the employer’s. Where the rule requires judgement, Job13 says so rather than guessing — run your own case through the free check.