OSHA issues interpretation letter on 'horseplay'

Mar 20, 2009

When "horseplay" between workers turns violent, should resulting injuries be considered recordable? OSHA says yes.

The agency issued a letter of interpretation, dated Feb. 9, in response to an inquiry from a contractor in Whiting, IN, regarding an incident between two workers in a construction trailer. According to the letter, the workers, both supervisors, entered the trailer to change clothes at the end of their shift and engaged in banter that escalated into a physical fight. One of the workers allegedly pulled a knife and stabbed the other in the right bicep, causing a laceration that required sutures to close.

The contractor sought clarification on whether the injury was considered work-related, and thus recordable, under OSHA regulations. In his response, Keith Goddard, director of OSHA's Directorate of Evaluation and Analysis, noted that "we assume that the supervisors were in the change trailer as a part of their work or as a condition of their employment. If our assumption is correct, the injury resulted from an event (the altercation between the two supervisors) occurring in the work environment and was thus work-related."