A company put a question to OSHA last winter. Employees were bringing rechargeable lithium-ion batteries from home to power e-cigarettes, and carrying them loose in their pants pockets with the terminals unprotected. One sparked a fire. A worker was burned. Since the battery had nothing to do with anybody's job, did the injury belong on the company's OSHA log?
The answer, in a letter of interpretation dated January 20 and announced by the agency on February 9, was yes.
The reasoning rests on what OSHA calls the geographic presumption. An injury caused by an event in the work environment is presumed work-related, and the regulation allows only eight narrow exceptions. None of them fit. The exception for personal grooming does not cover it. Neither does the one for eating and drinking. Whether the worker was at fault, and whether the fire was preventable, do not enter into the determination at all.
OSHA was careful to note that recording a case does not mean anyone was at fault or that a standard was broken. It is a count, not a verdict.
The company asked one more question: would it matter if the battery had shorted out against a metal key the employer issued? OSHA said no. The answer is a footnote. The question points straight at the hazard.
A bare lithium cell riding loose in a pocket is one key or one coin away from a short circuit. Carry spares in a plastic case.
Rick Good spent ten years in the newspaper business, including with The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) and The Greenville News (Greenville, SC). He co-wrote, with Melinda Coleman, Rutledge to Riley: Governors of South Carolina, 1776–Present (Published by The Greenville News), and is the author of Mind Games Trivia #1 (Amazon). He has recently spent 15 years creating original trivia content through Sounds Good Mobile Entertainment and continues that with his new company, SGME Software. He edits The Smart Reader’s money, real estate, and business coverage.
