Commuting Injuries and OSHA Recordkeeping: What Usually Stays Off the Log
Injuries during an ordinary commute are not work-related, and a motor vehicle accident in the company parking lot or access road while commuting is specifically excepted.
The short answer
Injuries during an ordinary commute are not work-related, and a motor vehicle accident in the company parking lot or access road while commuting is specifically excepted. Driving for work, such as errands or travel between job sites, is different: those injuries are work-related.
Commute cases create confusion because they happen near work but not always because of work.
The rule in plain English
An injury or illness is work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment caused or contributed to it, or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition (29 CFR 1904.5). It is presumed for anything that happens in the work environment unless one of nine exceptions applies: the person was there as a member of the public; symptoms surfaced at work but came solely from a non-work event; voluntary wellness, fitness, or recreation; eating or drinking for personal consumption; personal tasks outside assigned working hours; personal grooming, self-medication for a non-work condition, or a self-inflicted injury; a motor vehicle accident in a company parking lot or access road while commuting; the common cold or flu; and mental illness, unless the employee voluntarily provides a qualified professional's opinion that it is work-related.
How it plays out on site
Use the work-relatedness exception for ordinary commuting where it applies. Deciding work-relatedness after severity is the most common ordering mistake, and it pushes borderline cases onto the log, or off it, for the wrong reason. The fix is to settle where the employee was, what they were doing, and at whose direction before anyone discusses treatment or severity.
Operations leaders rarely make the recordkeeping call, but they control the schedules, postings, and site managers that make the deadlines work.
The common mistake
Teams sometimes record parking lot or road cases without identifying the activity.
Work-relatedness is the first gate: a case that fails it never reaches the recording criteria, the 300A totals, or the rates. A case that passes still needs a recording criterion before it goes on the log.
Edge cases
- Work errands or construction work zones can change the answer.
- When it is not obvious whether the event happened at work or away from it, evaluate the employee's duties and environment to decide whether work caused, contributed to, or significantly aggravated the condition (1904.5(b)(3)).
Worked example
A technician rear-ended on the way to the office in the morning is commuting: not work-related. The same technician rear-ended at noon while driving to a customer site is working: work-related, and recordable if a criterion is met.
Checklist
- Identify the purpose of the trip.
- Check whether the employee was commuting or working.
- Apply the parking lot exception to vehicle accidents only.
- Record work-related cases that meet a criterion.
What to keep in the case file:
- What the employee was doing, where, and at whose direction
- Whether the location is part of the work environment
- Which exception you considered and the facts that support or rule it out
- For aggravation cases, the condition before the event and what changed after it
Where 300log helps
300log keeps the facts that decide work-relatedness (where the event happened, what the employee was doing just before, and what happened) in each case's 301 fields, right next to the log entry they support.
For a quick answer without an account, use the free recordability checker.
Frequently asked questions
Are parking lot injuries work-related?
Usually yes, because an employer-controlled lot is part of the work environment. The exception is narrow: motor vehicle accidents in the company lot or access road while the employee is commuting.
Is the common cold or flu ever recordable?
No. The common cold and flu are excepted. Other contagious diseases, such as tuberculosis, are work-related if the employee was infected at work.
How is work-relatedness decided on business travel?
A travel injury is work-related if the employee was engaged in work activities in the employer's interest. Once they check into a hotel, activities there are judged like home activities, and personal detours break the connection.
Do we need a doctor to decide work-relatedness?
No. The employer decides, using the facts. A provider's opinion matters for one exception: mental illness is work-related only if the employee voluntarily provides a qualified professional's opinion saying so.
Sources
Primary regulation and agency guidance this article relies on.
- [1]29 CFR 1904.5: Determination of work-relatednessOccupational Safety and Health Administration · osha.gov(opens in a new tab)
- [2]29 CFR 1904.39: Reporting fatalities, hospitalizations, amputations, and losses of an eyeOccupational Safety and Health Administration · osha.gov(opens in a new tab)
- [3]29 CFR 1904.7: General recording criteriaOccupational Safety and Health Administration · osha.gov(opens in a new tab)
Written and reviewed by the 300log Editorial Team. Guidance, not legal advice: confirm edge cases with OSHA or counsel.