Jessica,

 

That is exactly how it works from a legal perspective. What you can distill from your example is that if you are receiving a wage/salary (not a fellowship stipend) for the work you were doing while you got hurt then you are an employee, you are eligible for workers compensation, and that injury would be OSHA recordable/reportable if it meets the respective criteria (for sensitization it would almost certainly be recordable only). It could get tricky if you have someone like a graduate student who is switching between multiple statuses and an illness caused by chronic exposures, but I’d be shocked if OSHA’s position was that it didn’t have to be recorded.

 

Chris

 

 

________________________________

Christopher M. Kolodziej, Ph.D.
Chemical Hygiene Officer

UCLA Environment, Health & Safety | Chemical Safety

 

Phone: (310) 794-5013

Book a virtual appointment

 

My working hours may not be your working hours. Please do not feel obligated to reply outside of your normal work schedule.

 

From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU> On Behalf Of Elizabeth Powers
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2025 1:37 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Sensitization Event - OSHA Recordable? OSHA Reportable?

 

At my university we have the ability to designate someone (student or other) as an “official volunteer”, this covers the volunteer by the institution and officially recognizes their work/time on behalf of the institution pay or no pay.  This is done through our HR office.  Typical instances we run into where we designate an official volunteer are;  a university permitted (meaning training and university driving permit issued) grad student driving for a field trip that needs an extra driver but the permitted student is not paid and they are not affiliated with the course conducting the field trip,  high school students doing research with a faculty member over the summer, students doing undergrad or grad research continue research after graduation and before grad/PhD school, job, etc.  Having them officially recognized also allows them to have access to campus resources such as email, online training portal, the library, and our chemical management software, etc. if needed.  Hope this helps.

 

 

 

Elizabeth Powers, CCHO

Chemical Hygiene Officer

Safety & Risk Management

9001 Stockdale Hwy

Bakersfield, CA 93311-1022

epowers**At_Symbol_Here**csub.edu

661-654-2580

 

 

From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU> On Behalf Of Jessica Martin
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2025 6:38 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Sensitization Event - OSHA Recordable? OSHA Reportable?

 

Hi Jon, I have heard this argument as well - however, the issue that next arose was “paid in what capacity”? To give some examples here: Many graduate students are paid through the funds of their PIs. It seems like this would indicate that those

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Hi Jon,

 

I have heard this argument as well - however, the issue that next arose was “paid in what capacity”?

 

To give some examples here:

 

• Many graduate students are paid through the funds of their PIs. It seems like this would indicate that those graduate student researchers would be considered employees (I was paid this way myself during 1 summer). Anyone more knowledgeable is welcome to jump in and let us know how this is understood at your institution.
• Many institutions “pay” their graduate student researchers by making them teaching assistants (I was paid this way for the Spring and Fall Semesters for 2 years myself). I was paid for the 19 hours per week that I was teaching students. However, I was not paid for all of the other hours that I was working on research in my lab. So - am I to understand that I was an employee while functioning as a teaching assistant in teaching labs but not while I was functioning as a researcher in my research lab? I discussed this with someone at another institution and that was their understanding. When I tried to get clarity at my own institution, no one seemed to know the answer.
• Many students are paid through independent fellowships through NSF, NDSEG, and others. I was paid this way myself during the final 3 years of my graduate program. However, I was no longer allowed to be part of the graduate student union because I no longer qualified. Also, in the years since, when employers have done background checks on me, I have found that according to the institution at which I did my grad student work, I was only considered an employee for the first 2 years - HR cannot account at all for my final 3 years when I was being paid via the NSF Fellowship. While I never reported any injuries, I am thinking that if the union and HR did not think I was an employee, then neither would Risk Management.

• A quick addendum to this. I was also funded by an NSF fellowship through my undergraduate institution to work at a USDA research lab for 10 weeks. I was paid by my undergraduate institution - the paperwork with USDA logged my hours as volunteer hours. Again, I wasn’t injured during those 10 weeks and I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to ask any questions - but presumably I would not have been considered an employee of USDA either - so if I had gotten injured, I would’ve been on my own. Which also reflects the situation of lots of undergraduate students who are being paid to work in research labs.

 

I have included details about how I was paid above because I think it is important to see that it is entirely possible that I was only considered an employee in my research lab while doing my research for 1 summer of the 5 years of my graduate program. 😂 And I don’t think my experience was all that unusual.

 

 

Jessica A. Martin, Ph.D.

323-327-3974

jmartin54321**At_Symbol_Here**gmail.com

 

bottomlinetech, Inc [bottomlinetech.com] | LinkedIn [linkedin.com] | ORCiD [orcid.org]

 

The opposite of war isn’t peace, it is creation.

 

Check out my new podcast: Skilled, Safe, and Trailblazing!

 

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On Oct 21, 2025, at 4:07 PM, Jonathan Klane <jklane1**At_Symbol_Here**asu.edu> wrote:

 

Grad students who are paid are typically considered employees for OSHA purposes.  Undergrads who aren't paid are not considered employees.  

 

The confusion arises from calling both groups "students".  The criteria is a paid employee which helps frame it as such and reduce confusion. 

 

All my best,

Jon

 

Jonathan Klane, M.S.Ed., CIH, CSP, CHMM, CIT

Storytelling Consultant 

 

PhD candidate, Human + Social Dimensions of Science + Technology

College of Global Futures

School for the Future of Innovation in Society

 

 

On Tue, Oct 21, 2025 at 12:07 PM Leach, Patricia <Patricia.Leach**At_Symbol_Here**utdallas.edu> wrote:

Hello Jessica,

These are all great questions for a work environment, but because these are students, I don’t believe they are covered by OSHA. Correct me if I am wrong, but that is the way I learned it.

Pat Leach

Lab Manager

The University of Texas at Dallas

Richardson, TX  75080

 

From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU> On Behalf Of Jessica Martin
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2025 7:36 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Sensitization Event - OSHA Recordable? OSHA Reportable?

 

Hi All!

 

I’m curious to engage the hive mind of the DCHAS listserv on an issue I’ve been thinking about too much over the last few days. Apologies for the long post – and I’m sure only the OSHA reporting nerds will be interested – so feel free to scroll past if this isn’t you!

 

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.joc.9b03280 

 

The first time I read the paper about the grad student who developed sensitization to the reagents with which she was working (linked above), I was a graduate student, and I looked at it from that perspective. I was glad that this person got the help they needed - and I used it in talks and trainings as a means of pointing out how important it is for us to take our own symptoms seriously - and to keep an eye on our lab mates since it is easier for us to dismiss concerns about our own health than it is to dismiss concerns about someone else's health.

 

I was rereading it the other day and now I am looking at it from the perspective of a safety professional. And I was curious to get feedback from this community. 

·      This person was a graduate student – which does seem important to keep in mind for this exercise.

·      My understanding is that the case described in this paper would not be an OSHA Reportable because it is not a fatality, in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye. Does everyone here agree with that interpretation?

·      There is a point in the paper in which the author comments that they should probably have called 911 but they didn’t. However, if they had called 911, I am thinking:

o   If they were treated onsite or at the ER then released, it would be an OSHA Recordable but not an OSHA Reportable.

o   If they were admitted to the hospital for treatment, then it would become an OSHA Reportable (as well as an OSHA Recordable).

·      Since they didn’t call 911, even if not an OSHA Reportable, I am struggling with whether this would be an OSHA Recordable. The graduate student in the paper did end up ending her experimental work inside of the lab and was able to work out an approach with her PI to complete her doctorate. Because of the nature of both the health issue and doctoral work, it is a bit tough for me to define what happened here in terms of the language around an OSHA Recordable. For example:

o   In going to an allergist, they did get medical treatment beyond first aid. However, it wasn’t so much to treat an illness as it was to identify an allergy – they did not get treatment for the allergy. So I’m thinking that this wouldn’t be a factor that would make this an OSHA Reportable.

o   Can we argue that they had days away from work? A doctoral student’s schedule is not normally so rigidly defined as to make it clear whether they had to take days away from work or not to recover from their attacks or go to the allergist. They simply could’ve rearranged their schedules for this.

o   We could argue that they did have restricted work or a transfer because they were no longer able to re-enter the lab and re-focused the rest of their doctoral work on activities outside of the lab. However, as a doctoral student, would this constitute a transfer or restricted work by OSHA Reportable standards?

o   Once the allergist confirmed that they did have sensitization to the reagents in their lab, is that considered a diagnosed illness? And now an OSHA Reportable?

 

And after working through that decision tree, would Worker’s Compensation come into play at any point?

 

If you are able to work through this with me, I would very much appreciate your time. If you would prefer to talk it through instead, please reach out to me to schedule a time to talk!

 

Thank you!

 

Jessica A. Martin, Ph.D.

323-327-3974

jmartin54321**At_Symbol_Here**gmail.com

 

bottomlinetech, Inc | LinkedIn | ORCiD

 

The opposite of war isn’t peace, it is creation.

 

Check out my new podcast: Skilled, Safe, and Trailblazing!

 

Follow the podcast on Spotify!
Follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts!
Follow the podcast on Amazon Music!
Follow the podcast on YouTube!
Don't see your favorite podcast platform above? Email me which one it is!

And follow the LinkedIn page for the community for updates.

 

ACS CHAS PEER-LED WORKSHOPS

The Workshop ACS CHAS Empowering Academic Researchers to Strengthen Safety Culture is being held next on Sunday, November 16, 2025, 3 PM to 6:30 PM Eastern Time online!
To learn more and to register, please follow this link: https://dchas.org/2023/08/22/history-of-the-chas-lst-workshop-2/

The Workshop ACS CHAS RAMP in the Research Lab is being held next on TBD online!
To learn more and to register, please follow this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/acs-chas-ramp-in-the-research-lab-tickets-1084192863039?aff=oddtdtcreator

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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