Watch Out For That Family Dog!

by Jack W. Bruce, Jr.

Recently, while taking a class for certification in Human Resources here in Atlanta, a fellow participant asked the question, ?How do I decide if an injury is work-related when the employee is working from home?? With more and more telecommuters and remote offices springing up in metro Atlanta, this is a good question.

Days following the class, the instructor emailed us an answer by providing a summary from OSHA. This is what we learned. 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.

The summary then included some examples. One example stated that if an employee drops a box of work documents and injures his or her foot, the case is considered work-related. Along the same lines, if an employee's fingernail is punctured by a needle, from a sewing machine used to perform garment work at home, and becomes infected and requires medical treatment, the injury is considered work-related.

However, not all injuries that take place at home while performing work duties are considered work related injuries. For instance, let?s say your employee is working in their suburban Atlanta home and the business phone line rings. The employee, not wanting to miss the call, rushes to answer the phone and in the process trips over Fluffy, the family dog, and hits her head on the corner of the file cabinet. In this case, the injury is not considered work-related. The employer is not responsible for the whereabouts of Fluffy.

Similarly, if an employee working at home is electrocuted because of faulty home wiring, the injury is not considered work-related. The homeowner, not the employee, is responsible for maintaining the home.

For more information about OSHA visit the Department of Labor Occupational Safety & Health Administration webpage at www.OSHA.gov.