Safety Knights

Hi Tom,

Since the treating physician did not remove the employee from work and only assigned restrictions, this case should be recorded as a restricted work case.

The key question is whether the company could actually accommodate those restrictions.

If suitable restricted duty was available, any days the employee chose to stay home due to pain would not be counted as days away from work. If the company could not accommodate the restrictions, then those days would need to be recorded as days away from work.

It’s important to note that OSHA recordkeeping is not based on the employee’s choice to stay home. It is based on what the licensed healthcare provider determined and whether the employer could accommodate those restrictions.

Hi Tom,
To answer your question directly: No, this does not count as lost time (Days Away from Work). >
Since the doctor provided work restrictions and did not take the employee off duty, it remains a 'Restricted Work' case in your logs. If the employee chooses to stay home due to pain despite having restricted tasks available, OSHA guidelines generally do not require those days to be recorded as lost time.
However, from a practical safety standpoint, I would be cautious about the 'strong pain meds.' Even in a restricted or office-based role, someone on heavy medication may have impaired judgment or reaction times. It might be worth a quick follow-up with the clinic to ensure his medication is compatible with even the restricted duties you’ve assigned

Hi Tom,

I would have to disagree with previous replies. If the employee does not work a scheduled shift because of the work-related injury, it is counted as a “days away from work” (lost time) case, even if the doctor did not explicitly say “no work.”

The injury (fractured tibia) is clearly OSHA-recordable. The doctor gave work restrictions but no time off. However, the employee is saying they cannot work due to pain.

If you allow (or approve) the employee to stay home because of the injury: Those days must be counted as “days away from work” on the OSHA log.

If the employee could have worked within restrictions and you had work available, but they chose to stay home:
It still counts as days away if the absence is due to the injury.

Hope this helps clarify.

Based on the information you have provided, I would not code this as recordable............yet. You should analyze days away and job restrictions separately.

--- DAYS AWAY ANALYSIS ---
This OSHA Letter of Interpretation might help: https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/2011-03-22

Question and response #'s 2 and 3 indirectly give insight on how to handle your situation. Obviously, if a licensed health care professional (LHCP) orders time off, then it's pretty clear those days (except the date of injury) should be recorded. However, if there are other days missed, such as personal time off, then burden shifts to the employer to make that decision. If the employer determines the employee could have worked (regardless of time off), then it is not recordable. If the employer determines the employee could NOT work as a result of the injury (again, regardless of employee's personal time off), then the injury IS recordable.

Days Away Conclusion: Based on the limited amount of data above, it would seem the LHCP released the worker for duty (again, let's keep restrictions separate for now). Given the LHCP determined the worker can return to work, then the "days away" calculation yields a non-recordable verdict in my opinion. As the employer, you would need to justify your reasoning either way.

Also, this article from JJ Keller supports this: https://www.jjkellersafety.com/resources/articles/2023/if-injured-employee-requests-day-off-is-that-days-away

--- JOB RESTRICTION ANALYSIS ---
29 CFR 1904.7(b)(4)(iv) states "If you or a physician or other licensed health care professional recommends a work restriction, is the injury or illness automatically recordable as a "restricted work" case? No, a recommended work restriction is recordable only if it affects one or more of the employee's routine job functions. To determine whether this is the case, you must evaluate the restriction in light of the routine functions of the injured or ill employee's job. If the restriction from you or the physician or other licensed health care professional keeps the employee from performing one or more of his or her routine job functions, or from working the full workday the injured or ill employee would otherwise have worked, the employee's work has been restricted and you must record the case."

Case Study: Office worker develops musculoskeletal disorder (Carpel Tunnel Syndrome) that has been determined to be work-related. Following surgery, the LHCP issues job restrictions that limit the worker from lifting anything greater than 50lbs. Even with this restriction, the worker can still fully operate his/her job as the restriction does not impair the worker's ability. This is because the worker does not lift objects greater than 50lbs during his/her normal job routine. The job restriction in this case is not OSHA recordable. However, if the LHCP issues a job restriction to keep one hand immobile with a brace, then the restriction directly impacts the worker's ability to perform his/her job (e.g. cannot type on office computer) - which means the job restriction is recordable.

Job Restriction Conclusion: Your details above do not provide enough information to accurately assess whether the job restrictions limit the worker's normal job duties. You simply state "the doctor gave him restrictions." One cannot assume the matter is recordable at this point. You will need to determine if the restrictions limit the worker's routine job functions to determine if the injury is recordable.

Source: https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1904/1904.7