Employees sometimes report accidents on their way to work. This generally results in an employee’s lateness to or absence from work being deemed excused. Employers are often unaware, however, that such notification carries additional obligations. Failures in this respect create the risk of the employee litigating with the employer to establish that such an event was an accident on the way to work. What should an employer do to protect themselves from such a risk?

At one time, a French court’s ruling concerning an employee who died from a heart attack after having casual sex [during a business trip] aroused great interest in the Polish press. The controversy concerned the court’s recognition of this incident as an accident at work, due to the fact that it took place during the employee’s business trip. The court held that an employee is protected throughout the entire duration of a business trip, also when carrying out normal human activities, which include having sex, as well as taking a shower or eating a meal. Could a similar judgment be passed in a Polish situation?

In order for an incident to be considered an accident at work, it is necessary to establish its connection with work. In this respect, no serious doubt is raised with respect to an accident suffered by an employee in the performance of his or her duties. However, in some cases, the accident report refers to an accident that occurred in circumstances not directly related to the employee’s performance of his or her work, for example during a staff social event. To properly classify such accident, it is necessary to determine whether the event was work-related.

A variety of circumstances may cause a workplace accident. It is important to properly determine the cause of an accident, because only an event that had an external cause may be deemed a work accident.

An external cause of an accident has a very broad definition. It may be the operation of a workplace machine or tool, or the behaviour of another person, or of the injured person himself. A workplace accident may even be caused by the employee tripping, or his unfortunate reflex action that led to a fall and the injury.