Industrial injury on the way to work, accident on the territory of the enterprise

Last modified: January 2021

We have to deal with such an interesting case as an industrial injury on the way to work, and determine the measures that will be applied in this situation. It is impossible to predict in advance all the dangers in life. Employees are injured on the job or outside of work. With regard to cases that occur at work, the law is clear in its interpretation of injury as an industrial injury. But more often, accidents leading to disability occur outside of work and working hours.

If the injury occurred on the way to work, is it related to work?

The citizen went to work and was injured on the way. Is this injury related to work? Is it necessary to conduct an investigation?

When a person is injured on the way to work, it is considered a work-related circumstance. But it would be wrong to call it production.

An official investigation is carried out:

When the employee traveled on transport provided by the enterprise. It is important that the vehicle is used for business purposes.
If an employee is injured on a business trip or on the employer’s transport.
If a driver is injured during a shift change.
During the elimination of the consequences of a disaster, an accident occurs with an employee.

Local regulations should reflect how to regulate issues between the parties in the event of injury on the way to work.

For example, an employee went into the store after work, and then came out and fell on the porch, breaking her leg. Will this case be classified as production related? No, since she originally visited the store.

Non-standard case

A special case would be when an employee gets out of a company vehicle and at that moment is injured. If the injury is caused by a malfunction of this vehicle (for example, an employee slipped due to a slippery step on a bus), then it is considered work-related. If he is injured due to slippery asphalt at a bus stop, the injury is considered domestic. But there is also a peculiarity here - if the stop or other area where pick-up/drop-off takes place is the property of the employer, then there is also a work-related injury on the way to work.

If the injuries are not classified as work-related, they are considered a domestic injury. However, this accident is recorded by a sick leave certificate and, if available, by the relevant insurance company (its commission), therefore the employer is obliged to pay benefits to the employee according to the sick leave certificate until his recovery.

Non-work-related injury

If an employee is injured on the way to work, how can one determine whether it was work-related or not? An injury is considered industrial if the employee was on transport provided by the enterprise, but several conditions are taken into account:

use of a personal car by order of the management of the enterprise, as well as if this information appears in the employment agreement;
the administration of the enterprise has a copy of the vehicle’s registration certificate;
The employee's travel is recorded.

If at least one of the conditions is not met, then the injury is classified as domestic.

Normative base

The accident investigation is carried out on the basis of:

labor legislation;
local acts developed at the enterprise.

If the employee used personal transport for travel or the employment agreement states that the transport is used for personal purposes, then an investigation must be carried out.

Not all injuries are related to work. These include:

electric shocks, including bodily harm;
cooling, heat stroke, overheating, frostbite;
if you have received bites from animals or insects;
other injuries.

Injury is subject to investigation, but within the limits of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. Payment is made in full regardless of length of service. The administration's expenses will also be spent on the employee's rehabilitation after illness, the purchase of medicines and other expenses associated with loss of ability to work.

Based on the MSEC results, the percentage of damage caused is determined. After hospitalization in a medical institution, expenses are reimbursed. If the injury is classified as minor, then compensation is provided at the expense of the employer.

The legislative framework

According to Article 227 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, accidents and injuries sustained by workers are investigated under the following circumstances:

traveling on official transport provided by the enterprise to or from work. A prerequisite is that the transport is used for official purposes;
The employee was on a business trip on official transport. While busy carrying out an assignment higher than assigned, he was injured;
a shift driver was injured during a shift change. Similar cases occur with workers in such professions as drivers working shifts, Russian Railways employees, etc.;
an accident occurred to an employee while eliminating or preventing a disaster.

Both the working time itself and the shift change period must be reflected in local documents in order to avoid a possible conflict between the parties to the labor relationship in the event of an injury. Each organization determines this time for itself independently.

Text of Article 227 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation

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What injuries are considered work-related?

Whether an injury on the way to work is considered work-related is important to find out, because if it occurs, the employee must understand how to act. To understand the answer to this question, it is worth establishing what injuries are considered work-related:

bodily injury of any degree;
getting heatstroke or electric shock;
frostbite or burn;
insect or animal bite;
drowning;
lightning strike;
radiation;
injuries as a result of an explosion or natural disaster;
emergency cases;
any external influences on a person’s ability to work that deprived him of it.

An accident on the way to work that happened to an employee is not considered a work-related injury in cases where he moved in the following ways:

on public transport that does not belong to the company;
on personal transport, not using it at that moment for work purposes, and not traveling on behalf of the employer;
the employee moved on foot, but exceptions are possible here if the employee moved in a certain direction to carry out the employer’s instructions.

Accident: definition

In order for an industrial accident to be recognized as an injury that caused irreparable damage to health, the conditions must be met.

At least one of the following is required:

the employee traveled by any type of transport, be it personal or public, to work. The time at which the unpleasant event occurred must be recorded in local documents and in the employment contract as a working time;
the employee carried out an official assignment, traveling by any type of transport or on foot;
during working hours, the employee was injured while on the territory of the enterprise where he works;
Only those events that occurred during working hours, as recorded in the relevant regulatory documents, are taken into account.

Example of a work injury:
An accountant, on behalf of the employer, goes to the enterprise to prepare and sign a number of papers. On her way to work, passing by a multi-story building, a brick falls on a woman. The woman was injured from his blow.

Such a case is considered as a production case, and the employee is entitled to payments and compensation. The manager of the company that services the house is also held liable. According to Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the situation is qualified as negligence. In rare cases, it will be possible to prove that it was impossible to prevent the incident.

According to Article 227 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, all other cases are characterized as a domestic injury.

The legislation establishes the time frame for investigating accidents (Article 229.1 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation):

3 days are given for consideration of cases where an employee received minor injuries;
the investigation of a serious injury lasts at least 15 days.

During the investigation of accidents that happen to employees while performing their official duties, the labor inspectorate may be involved. These responsibilities include:

find witnesses to the incident;
identify persons who violated labor protection requirements;
conduct a conversation with the victim and obtain the necessary information from him;
a conversation with the employer, during which questions are asked to establish a logical chain of events and identify the culprit.

What documents are drawn up

When an employee is injured on the job, an investigation is conducted. During this process, the documents listed below are drawn up:

The order on the composition of the commission is approved. It describes the persons involved in the consideration of the incident;
Inspection protocol;
A diagram of the scene of the incident is drawn up;
Information received from witnesses and the victim is entered into the protocol;
A medical report on the severity of the injury;
An optional, but sometimes required document may be a certificate of weather conditions;
Indicators obtained during a medical examination for alcohol intoxication are also provided;
Form N1 is the conclusion of the commission, which gives all the details of what happened and presents a conclusion on whether the incident was industrial or not.

The outcome of the investigation of an industrial accident is recorded in the logbook.

Sequence of actions of the victim

If an employee is injured, he must take the following actions:

Contact a medical facility for first aid yourself or with the help of witnesses.
Write an explanatory note to the employer, describing in detail what happened. Eyewitnesses must also provide information.
Submit a certificate from a health center about the severity level.

It is possible that the employee will not immediately report the severity of the injury. In this regard, if the injury makes itself known after the lapse of time, then he can report it at any time. A month is allotted for the investigation.

An employer's actions if an employee is injured at work

When an employee is injured on the job, the employer must take certain actions. Below is a list of mandatory measures that an employer takes if its employee is injured:

the first step is to provide assistance to the victim - call an ambulance, etc., depending on the severity of the injury;
The situation in which the bruises were received is recorded in its original form. If possible, objects are not moved, a diagram of what happened is drawn up and photographs are taken;
the employer contacts the medical institution where the injured employee was placed to obtain registration form No. 315-u and to clarify the diagnosis made to the employee;
The employer is given 24 hours from the moment of the incident to notify the territorial body of the Social Insurance Fund (in the form approved by Order No. 157 of the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation).
If not just one employee, but a group of people were injured, the employer additionally provides information to the following authorities:
Labour Inspectorate;
prosecutor's office;
in case of poisoning, Rospotrebnadzor;
Trade Union;
the victim's/their relatives should also be notified.

Punishment of the employer for concealing an accident

Article 15.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation provides for liability for actions involving concealment of an insured event:

individuals will pay from 300 to 500 rubles;
a fine in the amount of 500 to 1 thousand rubles is imposed on officials;
The fine for legal entities will be from 5 to 10 thousand rubles.

Any employee, if the employer conceals the fact of receiving a work-related injury, has the right to apply to the Labor Inspectorate with a statement. There is no statute of limitations when investigating accidents. The main thing is to have witnesses or any evidence of what happened - camera footage, documents from the hospital where the treatment took place, etc.

Sample statement of claim to the Labor Inspectorate for an industrial injury

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Payments to the victim

Employees injured at work are entitled to payments (according to the law on compulsory insurance).

List of payments:

One-time payment (under insurance);
Benefit received in connection with temporary disability;
Insurance payments provided once a month;
Covering costs associated with first aid, treatment, travel to and from the hospital.

Depending on local documents and regulations, the employee has the right to demand additional payments, if such are provided for in the employment contract, additional agreement, etc.

Where to go if there are no payments?

Not every employer is ready to take responsibility for what happened to an employee in the workplace or while he was performing an official task. So what should you do if your boss doesn’t plan to cover your employee’s expenses due to a work-related injury?

Situations where an employer refuses to pay rarely occur. This is due to the fact that the employer, when covering the employee’s expenses for treatment and payment of compensation, does not use the company’s money. This is done from the Social Insurance Fund, so there is no point in hiding such cases in order to save money. The fine and punishment for this is many times greater.

Having not received financial support, an employee can apply:

with a complaint to the Labor Inspectorate;
to the territorial body of the Social Insurance Fund;
with a statement of claim to the court.

Article 154 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation establishes deadlines for the consideration of applications that are relevant for resolving civil cases, not criminal ones. The countdown begins from the moment the statement of claim is received, the duration is 2 months. 1 month is allocated to resolve disputes and consider the case in the World Court.

Sample statement of claim for payment in connection with a work injury

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What should an employer do?

Upon receipt of information about an injury to an employee, the employer is obliged to:

Ask the victim and eyewitnesses of the incident to write explanatory notes about this.
Create a commission to conduct an investigation. This requires a medical report on the severity.
After the investigation, an act is drawn up in form N-1.
Sick leave is paid at the expense of the employer if the incident occurred through the fault of the enterprise administration.

The employer's actions are regulated by regulatory documents.

List of documents

To investigate an accident, it is necessary to prepare a list of documents:

An order for the enterprise, in which an investigation commission is appointed, headed by a chairman. Interested persons cannot be members of the commission.
Documents from a medical organization regarding the severity of the case.
Eyewitness testimony and personal explanatory statement from the victim.
Videos and photographs from the scene of the incident, whenever possible. If the place cannot be left in the same condition in which the accident occurred, then the video materials will not be in demand.
Information on training, copies of personal cards on the issuance of protective clothing and personal protective equipment.
The results of a drug test to confirm that the employee was in a normal state.
Diagram of the place where the accident occurred.
A document that defines the relationship of the accident to the category not related to production.

What to do for the victim

If the circumstances of the victim’s injury are related to the above reasons, the employee can confidently defend his rights. first of all, he must contact his employer with a request to create a commission to investigate the incident and properly document it.

If the injury received does not pose a serious threat to the health and life of the employee, the investigation of the circumstances must be completed within three days, but if the injury is serious, within fifteen. If an employee dies, his relatives should contact the employer with a statement.

If the employer claims that the injury is not related to production issues and refuses to investigate the incident, the injured person can contact the labor inspectorate. In such cases, the investigation of the circumstances is carried out by the responsible inspector, whose decision the employer has no right to influence. The organization itself will be fined for failure to provide information about the incident and concealment of the circumstances of the industrial injury.

An employee can also contact the labor inspectorate if he does not agree with the conclusions of the commission that was formed by the employer to investigate the circumstances of the incident. If the inspector agrees with the victim’s arguments, the employer will be required to draw up a new report on the investigation of the emergency.

If the injury occurred on a business trip

A work-related injury can occur while on a business trip. If an employee goes on a business trip or is returning back and an accident occurs along the way, then an investigation is inevitable.

A working day on a business trip is identical to the working time spent at the place of work. When an employee acted in the interests of the administration of the enterprise or in personal interests, this will also be taken into account during the investigation.

The conduct of the investigation may vary depending on the circumstances. If the employee was not seconded to a specific organization, then the investigation commission includes employees who are in charge of the territory of the facility.

The organization's responsibility is to investigate and, among other things:

you need to notify the insurance service about the incident;
prepare a report on what happened;
send a notification to the employer for whom the victim works if the injury has serious consequences (permanent disability or death, and also occurred with several employees at the same time);
It is necessary to investigate an accident while on a business trip.

What is included in the concept of work injury?

The law establishes the employer's responsibility for the well-being of a person employed by the enterprise. The administration is obliged to ensure conditions for the safe performance by hired personnel of the duties assigned by the contract. Responsibility extends to compliance with safety regulations and to maintaining the health of the subordinate during the period of work.

If the law is clear regarding cases that occurred during working hours on company premises, then when receiving injuries outside of work there are some nuances, since the circumstances can be interpreted differently.

According to labor law, a work-related injury can occur during the performance of work duties during the hours specified by the contract as working hours. It is permissible to apply the same norm in relation to the employee’s route from his place of work to his home.

Fractures and any bodily injuries are not the entire list in which cases an injury is considered work-related. The following incidents are legally considered to be a work injury:

electric shock or lightning;
heatstroke;
frostbite of the body;
burns;
bites;
exposure to radiation;
drowning;
the impact of natural disasters and man-made disasters;
accidents.

Any event that negatively affects an employee’s ability to work can be classified as an industrial accident. It is more important to identify the circumstances under which a person was injured.

Provisions of Art. 227 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation explains the main subtleties of the application of the law in relation to industrial injuries, depending on the time of the incident and location. The Labor Code also regulates the payments that an injured employee can receive.

Responsibility of the employer when concealing a case

Injury at work is an insured event and the consequences can be compensated in accordance with current legislation. It turns out that the employer is liable if it did not properly investigate the accident.

This is an article included in the administrative code, on the basis of which penalties are established. Penalties apply for this:

for ordinary citizens the fine amount is set at 300-500 rubles;
for employees 500 -1000 rubles;
for organizational structures 5,000 -10,000 rubles.

What payments are due?

If the fact of injury to an employee is confirmed and after an investigation, the first one is entitled to payments from the Social Insurance Fund:

According to the submitted sick leave certificate, since temporary incapacity for work has been established.
One-time and monthly compensations are paid.
Expenses of funds based on the fact of the incident for professional, social or medical rehabilitation are reimbursed.

If an employee is injured as a result of an injury at work, then he is entitled to payment of wages in full, and length of service does not affect the amount. The benefit is paid until the ability to work is restored. Payments per month do not exceed 4 benefits established by the Social Insurance Fund. If earnings are exceeded, the maximum benefit may be paid.

The size depends on the injuries received, which are established on the MSEC. Based on the adopted provision, the maximum amount is established. For some categories, a regional coefficient is paid. When a death occurs, the relatives should receive a million rubles as compensation.

Payment depends on average earnings. In this case, all income previously received by the victim is taken into account, including remuneration under a contract or author’s order.