The facts
- The company enters a team in a local softball league. Participation is entirely voluntary and games are outside working hours.
- An employee rolls an ankle sliding into second base.
- The ankle is put in a walking boot and they are restricted from ladder work for a week.
The determination
Not recordable
Excluded from work-relatedness by 1904.5(b)(2)(iii), so it is not recordable.
Decision trail
- 01
Did an event or exposure in the work environment cause or contribute to the case?
Yes — presumed work-related, subject to the 1904.5(b)(2) exceptions.
29 CFR § 1904.5(a)(a) 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.
- 02
Does a 1904.5(b)(2) exception apply?
Yes — exception (iii) applies.
29 CFR § 1904.5(b)(2)(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.
Computed at build time by Job13’s engine from the facts above — not written by hand. Change the facts and re-run it yourself →
What is actually going on here — Job13's explanation
The rule excludes injuries resulting solely from voluntary participation in a wellness programme or a medical, fitness or recreational activity — and names racquetball and baseball among its examples. A voluntary company softball game sits squarely inside it.
As with the food case, notice what is being set aside: a rigid immobilisation device is medical treatment and the work restriction is a separate 1904.7(a) criterion. Two criteria are met and the case is still not recordable, because it is not work-related.
The word doing the work is "voluntary". If attendance is required, or the employee is paid to be there, or the activity is part of a job function, the exception does not apply and you are back to the ordinary analysis.
The provisions this turns on
In the regulation's own words
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.
Change one fact
If attendance had been mandatory
Without voluntary participation the exception falls away. The same ankle, with the same boot and the same restriction, is then a recordable case.
The determination on those facts instead
Recordable
Recordable — the case meets the 1904.7(a) criterion: Restricted work or transfer to another job.
Criteria met
- • Restricted work or transfer to another job
- • Medical treatment beyond first aid
Decision trail
- 01
Did an event or exposure in the work environment cause or contribute to the case?
Yes — presumed work-related, subject to the 1904.5(b)(2) exceptions.
29 CFR § 1904.5(a)(a) 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.
- 02
Is this a new case?
Yes.
29 CFR § 1904.6(a)(a) Basic requirement. You must consider an injury or illness to be a “new case” if:
- 03
Does the case meet one or more of the general recording criteria in 1904.7(a)?
Yes — Restricted work or transfer to another job; Medical treatment beyond first aid.
29 CFR § 1904.7(a)(a) Basic requirement. You must consider an injury or illness to meet the general recording criteria, and therefore to be recordable, if it results in any of the following: death, days away from work, restricted work or transfer to another job, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness. You must also consider a case to meet the general recording criteria if it involves a significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional, even if it does not result in death, days away from work, restricted work or job transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness.
29 CFR § 1904.7(b)(5)Only NON-rigid support (F) and temporary immobilization while TRANSPORTING a victim (G) are first aid.
Your case is not this case
Scenarios are worked examples on stated facts. Small differences — who recommended the treatment, whether participation was voluntary, what the employee’s routine functions actually are — change the answer. Run your own facts, and the determination will show you which step decided it.
Check your case — freeNot 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.