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20 CFR § 61.4 - Definitions and use of terms.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t20/s61.4"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "20 CFR § 61.4 - Definitions and use of terms."
title_number: 20
title_name: "Employees' Benefits"
section_number: "61.4"
section_name: "Definitions and use of terms."
chapter_name: "OFFICE OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION PROGRAMS, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR"
subchapter_number: "F"
subchapter_name: "COMPENSATION FOR INJURY, DISABILITY, DEATH, OR ENEMY DETENTION OF EMPLOYEES OF CONTRACTORS WITH THE UNITED STATES"
part_number: "61"
part_name: "CLAIMS FOR COMPENSATION UNDER THE WAR HAZARDS COMPENSATION ACT, AS AMENDED"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "1950 Reorg. Plan No. 19, sec. 1, 3 CFR, 1949-1953 Comp., p. 1010, 64 Stat. 1271; 5 U.S.C. 8145, 8149; 42 U.S.C. 1704, 1706; Secretary's Order 7-87, 52 FR 48466; Employment Standards Order 78-1, 43 FR 51469."
regulatory_source: "53 FR 3679, Feb. 8, 1988, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "61"
---

# 61.4 Definitions and use of terms.

For the purpose of this part—

(a) *The Act* means the War Hazards Compensation Act, 42 U.S.C. 1701 *et seq.,* as amended.

(b) *Office* or *OWCP* means the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, Employment Standards Administration, United States Department of Labor.

(c) *Contractor with the United States* includes any contractor, subcontractor or subordinate subcontractor.

(d) *Carrier* means any payer of benefits for which reimbursement is requested under the Act, and includes insurance carriers, self-insured employers and compensation funds.

(e) *War-risk hazard* means any hazard arising during a war in which the United States is engaged; during an armed conflict in which the United States is engaged, whether or not war has been declared; or during a war or armed conflict between military forces of any origin, occurring within any country in which a person covered by the Act is serving; from—

(1) The discharge of any missile (including liquids and gas) or the use of any weapon, explosive, or other noxious thing by a hostile force or person or in combating an attack or an imagined attack by a hostile force or person;

(2) Action of a hostile force or person, including rebellion or insurrection against the United States or any of its allies;

(3) The discharge or explosion of munitions intended for use in connection with a war or armed conflict with a hostile force or person (except with respect to employees of a manufacturer, processor, or transporter of munitions during the manufacture, processing, or transporting of munitions, or while stored on the premises of the manufacturer, processor, or transporter);

(4) The collision of vessels in convoy or the operation of vessels or aircraft without running lights or without other customary peacetime aids to navigation; or

(5) The operation of vessels or aircraft in a zone of hostilities or engaged in war activities.

(f) *Hostile force or person* means any nation, any subject of a foreign nation, or any other person serving a foreign nation—

(1) Engaged in a war against the United States or any of its allies;

(2) Engaged in armed conflict, whether or not war has been declared, against the United States or any of its allies; or

(3) Engaged in a war or armed conflict between military forces of any origin in any country in which a person covered by the Act is serving.

(g) *Allies* means any nation with which the United States is engaged in a common military effort or with which the United States has entered into a common defensive military alliance.

(h) *War activities* includes activities directly relating to military operations.

(i) *Continental United States* means the States and the District of Columbia.

(j) *Injury* means injury resulting from a war-risk hazard, as defined in this section, whether or not such injury occurred in the course of the person's employment, and includes any disease proximately resulting from a war-risk hazard.

(k) *Death* means death resulting from an injury, as defined in this section.

(l) The terms *compensation, physician,* and *medical, surgical, and hospital services and supplies* when used in subparts D and E are construed and applied as defined in the Federal Employees' Compensation Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. 8101 *et seq.*).

(m) The terms *disability, wages, child, grandchild, brother, sister, parent, widow, widower, student, adoption* or *adopted* are construed and applied as defined in the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, as amended (35 U.S.C. 901 *et seq.*).