Xiao is a physics teacher at a certain school, with working hours from 8:00 to 12:00 and from 13:30 to 17:30.

On the morning of December 14, 2025, Xiao walked to school for work. At 7:55, Xiao slipped and fell at the school gate entrance, resulting in a comminuted fracture of the proximal humerus in the left arm.

Xiao believed that the school gate entrance was the sole passage for entering the school to carry out teaching duties, constituting a reasonable extension of the workplace. His purpose in entering the gate passage was to attend school classes, which was work-related. Therefore, he submitted a work-related injury recognition application to the local human resources and social security bureau. However, the school argued that Xiao was not injured during work hours or within the workplace due to work reasons, nor was he injured in a non-traffic accident during commuting where he was not primarily at fault, thus disqualifying it as a work-related injury.

The Human Resources and Social Security Bureau determined that Xiao's injury did not qualify as a work-related injury. Dissatisfied, Xiao filed an administrative lawsuit. Both the first and second-instance courts upheld the bureau's decision not to recognize the injury as work-related.

In this case, Xiao started work at 8:00 and was injured at 7:55, meeting the condition of being within the work hours. However, regardless of whether the school gate passage falls under the "area where the employer can effectively manage employees' daily production activities," the cause of the accident shows that walking to work was not preparatory work related to teaching. Xiao's intention to go to work was clear at the time of the incident. From leaving home until arriving at the school, the entire journey should be considered part of the commute. However, the injury was not caused by a traffic accident and resulted from his own carelessness, so he should bear the primary responsibility for the accident. Therefore, Xiao's accidental fall and injury during the commute cannot be recognized as a work-related injury.

This article is reprinted from the official account "Shandong Gao Fa," and we extend our gratitude for their permission!