OPINION
T1 Layne Jex seeks judicial review of the Labor Commission's (the Commission) denial of workers' compensation benefits to him after he was injured while driving his personal vehicle from his workplace. Jex asserts that the denial was based on an erroneous determination that his vehicle was not an instrumentality of his employer's business. We decline to disturb the Commission's ruling.
BACKGROUND
T2 The facts of this case are essentially undisputed. 1 On June 2, 2008, Jex was hired by Precision Excavating (Precision) in St. George, Utah, as a heavy equipment operator. Jex worked for several weeks on job sites in Washington, Utah, and Hurricane, Utah. At the time of the July 22, 2008 accident, Jex had been working on a job in Cedar City, Utah, approximately sixty miles north of St. George. Although Precision provided limited shuttle transportation to Cedar City in the supervisor's truck on a first-come, first-served basis, employees were otherwise responsible for their own transportation to and from the job site. Precision did not compensate them for their travel time or gasoline expenses. Jex sometimes rode in the company shuttle, but he preferred driving his own truck. On occasion, Jex's supervisor, Trent Holden, asked Jex to wait for a chronically-late employee named Nick to give him a ride to the job site.
T3 In addition to driving himself to work, Jex carried his personal tools in his vehicle for use on the job. Although Holden was aware that Jex used his own tools, Holden testified that Precision provided all of the tools and equipment necessary for completing the work on the work site and that Jex was not required to bring any of his own tools to work. Jex acknowledged that "it was a convenience to have the tools so that he did not have to walk back and forth to the company truck which could be parked away from his work assignment."
T4 Twice during the three to four weeks Jex was working at the Cedar City location, 2 Precision asked him to leave the work site, pick up a tool or part, and bring the item back to the work site. Jex used his own vehicle to complete those errands. Holden indicated that a company truck had been available on both occasions but acknowledged that he was aware that Jex had used his personal vehicle and testified that they did not discuss which vehicle Jex should take. Jex was compensated for running these er *1081 rands because they occurred during his shift, but he was not reimbursed for the use of his vehicle. As a result of the second errand, which required Jex to travel to Wheeler Machinery to pick up a hose he needed to operate a track hoe, Jex obtained two gallons of hydraulic fluid. Wheeler Machinery provided the hydraulic fluid at no cost to Precision because Precision rented the track hoe from Wheeler and the fluid in the track hoe might need replenishment after Jex replaced the hose. Jex testified that he kept the hydraulic fluid on the track hoe during the work day and stored it in his truck overnight so that he would have ready access to it if he needed it. He did not dispute Holden's testimony that he should have stored the fluid in one of the onsite company vehicles.
1 5 On July 22, 2008, Jex drove to the work site in his own vehicle. As he was leaving for the day, Jex noticed that another employee, James, who had ridden to work in Holden's truck, was still on site. Because Holden was working late, Jex inquired of him whether he should give James a ride home. Holden said, "'Yeah go ask [him] if he wants to go now, and give him a ride.'" Holden testified that he also informed Jex that James either could go with Jex if he was ready or he could stay, work overtime, and ride back to St. George with Holden later. Jex did not tell James that he could stay and work, however, and James accepted the ride with Jex. While traveling south on I-15 from Cedar City to St. George, "Jex had a tire failure," resulting in "a one car rollover vehicle accident." Jex "injured his low back with fractures at the L1 and L2 level."
T6 Precision, through its insurance carrier, Owners' Insurance Company, denied workers' compensation benefits on the basis of the going and coming rule. The going and coming rule addresses when a person "acquires and abandons [his or] her status as an employee at the beginning and end of the workday" and provides that there is no "legal consequence to the employer" when "an untoward event ... befalls an employee who is 'just' coming or going from the workplace." Salt Lake City Corp. v. Labor Comm'n,
*1082 ISSUE AND STANDARD OF REVIEW
T7 Jex challenges the denial of workers' compensation benefits, asserting that his injury "arose out of and in the course of his employment" with Precision. In particular, he claims that the Commission improperly determined that his personal vehicle was not an instrumentality of Precision's business and therefore erroneously concluded that his accident was not exempt from the going and coming rule, which governs most employees traveling to or from work. "The issue before us is a mixed question of law and fact, one that calls upon us to review the application of law to fact." Salt Lake City Corp.,
ANALYSIS
18 The Workers' Compensation Act compensates employees for injuries sustained in the course of employment. See Utah Code Ann. § 34A-2-401 (2011). However, "(als a general rule, injuries sustained by an employee while traveling to and from the place of employment do not arise out of and in the course of employment and are, therefore, not covered by workers' compensation." Van-Leeuwen,
T9 There are certain exceptions to the going and coming rule, however, such as
*1083 "where transportation was furnished by the employer to the benefit of the employer; where the employer requires the employee to use a vehicle as an instrumentality of the business; where the employee is injured while upon a 'special errand or 'special mission' for the employer; where ingress and egress at the place of employment are inherently dangerous; and where the employee combined pleasure and business on a trip, and the business part predominated."
VanLeeuwen,
110 The Utah appellate courts have had occasion to consider the sort of cireum-stances in which the instrumentality of business exception arises. In the cases where the courts have concluded that a personal vehicle had become an instrumentality of business, the employer was found to have used the vehicle to its benefit to such an extent that the vehicle had become a means for accomplishing the employer's business purposes. CL Black's Law Dictionary 870 (9th ed. 2009) ("[Instrumentality" means "[a]) thing used to achieve an end or purpose ... [or al means or agency through which a function of another entity is accomplished."). For example, in Bailey v. Utah State Industrial Commission,
T 11 Similarly, in Moser v. Industrial Commission,
1 12 Utah's appellate courts, however, have not excepted an employee's travel to or from work from the usual rule when the travel did not confer a substantial benefit on the employer. In Cross v. Board of Review,
113 A closer case was presented in Salt Lake City Corp. v. Labor Commission,
114 This precedent is instructive in that it establishes a frame of reference for assessing whether Jex's injuries arose while merely going to or coming from work or whether the use of his personal vehicle provided Precision with benefits to such an extent that his injuries should be excepted from "the usual case of going to or coming from work, which we recognize as not within the scope of employment," Moser,
15 Consequently, we begin our analysis by considering the cireumstances surrounding Jex's transportation of James from the job site in Cedar City to determine whether these facts alone are sufficient to exempt his trip back to St. George on the day of the accident from the going and coming rule. We conclude that they are not. The Commission found that Jex's offer to transport James back to St. George was the product of his own initiative rather than a solicitation by Precision. Moreover, Holden testified that had James stayed on site, there was work to be done and he could have transported James back to St. George with little inconvenience when the work was completed. Based on these facts, Jex's transpor
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tation of James was not required by Precision, nor did it provide the company with any substantial benefit; rather, the trip during which the accident occurred fell squarely within the scope of the going and coming rule. See generally Bailey,
T16 Because the trip during which the accident occurred was not itself within the scope of his employment, we must now consider whether, under the totality of the cireumstances, Jex's vehicle had been adapted to Precision's benefit to such an extent that it became an instrumentality of Precision's business for all purposes, including what would otherwise be simply traveling to and from the work site. According to Jex, his accident fell outside the ambit of the going and coming rule because Precision "involve[d itself] in an employee's use of his vehicle," in a manner that "benefits the employer, making [the] vehicle an instrumentality of business." Specifically, Jex contends that Precision benefitted from the use of his truck as a second shuttle vehicle, from its availability to perform off-site errands, and from the storage of tools and hydraulic fluid in the truck, which allowed him to make more effective use of his time by not having to travel for tools or fluid to the company vehicle parked some distance from where he was working.
" 17 With respect to the use of his truck to transport Nick to the job site, Jex argues that "injuries that occur on the way to or coming home from work are compensable when the transportation is furnished by the employer for the employer's benefit." (Cit, ing State Tax Comm'n,
{18 The Commission indeed found that Holden asked Jex to wait an additional ten minutes "on occasion" for Nick to arrive and to then transport him to Cedar City. The Commission also found that "Nick was often tardy and this became a pattern." There is no indication, however, that providing auxiliary or overflow transportation services was a requirement of Jex's employment. Jex was not compensated for his travel time, for the use of his vehicle, or for transportation of another employee. Moreover, Jex testified that he generally drove himself to work because he preferred to ride in his own truck where there were no smokers, not because he felt obligated to have his truck available for extra-capacity shuttle service. Jex's and Precision's conduct during Jex's time at the Cedar City job site corroborates this. Despite his preference for taking his own vehicle, Jex chose to ride in the company shuttle about four times during the three to four weeks he was working in Cedar City, an average of at least onee per week. There was no evidence that Precision complained about this decision or made any efforts to either dissuade Jex from taking advantage of the shuttle's availability or persuade him to drive his own vehicle Nor was there evidence that Jex was responsible for ensuring that Nick had alternative transportation on these days. To the contrary, Holden testified that Nick had alternative means for getting to the work site when Jex was unavailable to drive him.
19 And while there is some evidence in the record to support Jex's claim that he transported Nick more frequently than "on *1086 occasion," it appears that Jex was acting on his own accord in those cireumstances. Jex explained that he felt that he had to wait for and drive Nick to the job site because it was "something ... [his] supervisor asked [him] to do" in the past. Holden did not dispute that Jex may have driven Nick a number of times but testified that he had only asked Jex to wait for and to transport Nick "on occasion." Jex even conceded that Holden had never "insist[(ed] that [transporting Nick was his] responsibility, part of the terms of [his] employment."
T20 The evidence as a whole therefore leads to a conclusion that Holden's occasional requests that Jex wait for Nick occurred on days when Jex had already elected to drive his own vehicle to the work site, as a favor to Nick and with some minimal benefit to the employer.
7
Jex's subsequent unilateral decision to transport Nick on other occasions, while proving him to be a dutifal and dependable employee, are more indicative of an accommodation to a fellow employee than of an additional responsibility of his job. This remains true, even assuming that had the accident occurred while Jex was transporting Nick to the job site at Holden's request, a case might be made that it would be compen-sable as a special errand carried out on the company's behalf. See generally State Tax Comm'n v. Industrial Comm'n,
121 Jex further contends that Precision "[rloutinely [relied the [uJse of [his] [truck" to run errands. Regarding the errands, the Commission found that Jex had indeed used his personal vehicle to run errands for Precision on two occasions over the three- to four-week period that he was working in Cedar City. It also found, however, that a company vehicle had been available for completing those errands and although Holden was aware that Jex used his own vehicle, they never discussed which vehicle Jex was to take nor was Jex compensated for the use of his vehicle. Because Holden acquiesced in Jex's use of his own truck to run these two errands, an argument might be made that any injuries sustained in the course of completing them may have fallen within the special errand exception to the going and coming rule. See generally id. at 1054 (" [When the employee engages in a special activity which is within the course of his employment, and which is reasonably undertaken at the request or invitation of the employer, any injury suffered while traveling to and from the place of such activity is also within the course of employment and is compensable." " (quoting Dimmig v. Workmen's Comp. Appeals Bd.,
122 Nor does Jex's use of his truck to transport and store his own tools and the two gallons of hydraulic fluid given to him by Wheeler Machinery make his vehicle an instrumentality of his employer's business. Precision provided all of the tools and fluid necessary for completing Jex's work onsite, albeit at a location at varying distances from where he was working. By Jex's own admissions and actions, his personal tools were not required for his work, but were rather a "convenience" that allowed him to have access to all the requisite implements without "having] to walk back and forth to the company truck which could be parked [some distance] away from his work assignment." Jex testified that while he preferred his own tools, he was able to perform his job without them on the days that he rode to the job site in the company truck. Further, Jex did not dispute Holden's testimony that he should have transferred the fluid to a company
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truck after he got it from Wheeler; rather, he acknowledged that he stored it in his truck-or on the track hoe itself-in case the track hoe's fluid needed to be replenished while he was working. Thus, although Precision enjoyed some minimal benefit from the time savings accrued by Jex's more convenient access to tools and hydraulic fluid, it was neither an expectation nor a requirement that Jex keep these items in his truck. Instead, it seems to have been more of a convenience to Jex himself. See generally Cross v. Board of Review,
123 In summary, the instrumentality of business indicia are not present in the facts of this case to the extent required to support Jex's contention that transporting his vehicle to and from the work site was within the course and seope of his employment with Precision because the vehicle had been effectively integrated into Precision's business. Rather, each of the activities Jex relies on provided the employer with only minimal or occasional benefit. Furthermore, with the exeeption of transporting Nick on the occasions when requested by Holden, Jex's use of his vehicle was the result of his unilateral decision, rather than a requirement of his position, and giving a ride to Nick when he was not instructed amounted to an accommodation rather than a requirement of employment. In the absence of a showing that Precision made more regular demands on Jex's vehicle or received and acquiesced in a more pervasive benefit from its use than occurred here, we cannot say that the Commission erred in its conclusion that, by the date of the accident, Jex's vehicle had not become an instrumentality of his employer's business. Compare Moser v. Industrial Comm'n,
€ 24 Thus, neither the specific utilizations of his truck for the employer's benefit nor the totality of the cireumstances lead to a conclusion that Jex's vehicle was being used by Precision to such an extent or in such a manner that Jex can be characterized as transporting an instrumentality of the business to and from the work site when he was driving James back to St. George on the day of the accident. Because we believe that the facts of this case do not present a close question on the compensability of Jex's injuries, we consider the Commission's denial of workers' compensation benefits appropriate even in view of the policy of "alleviat[ing] hardship upon workers and their families" by "liberally construling the workers' compensa
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tion act] ... to provide coverage" whenever there is "[alny doubt respecting the right of compensation," Drake v. Industrial Comm'n,
CONCLUSION
T25 Because Jex was not required to use his truck to conduct Precision's business, nor did its use confer a substantial benefit upon Precision, the Commission did not err in determining that it was not an instrumentality of business. We therefore will not disturb the Commission's decision to deny workers' compensation benefits on the basis of the going and coming rule.
T 26 WE CONCUR: GREGORY K. ORME and MICHELE M. CHRISTIANSEN, Judges.
Notes
. We recite the facts according to the Commission's factual findings. Jex has not challenged those findings.
. The Commission did not make any express findings regarding how long Jex had been on the Cedar City job before the accident. It did find, however, that Jex rode with Holden in the company vehicle from time to time over a three- to four-week period. This time period is consistent with Holden's testimony that Jex was hired in early June 2008 and worked for at least three weeks at other locations before transferring to the Cedar City job site. The accident occurred July 22, 2008, just over seven weeks after Precision hired Jex.
. As a convenience to the reader, all citations are to the current version of the Utah Code because the relevant statutes have not been substantively amended from the version in effect at the time of Jex's accident.
. This court, in Murray v. Labor Commission,
. In his opening brief, Jex also contends that the Commission relied upon unsupported hearsay evidence to reach its decision. See generally Prosper, Inc. v. Department of Workforce Servs.,
. In some sense, then, the police vehicle itself, which was owned by the employer, could be viewed as integral to the benefit that the employer expected from the Take Home Car Program.
. Indeed, asking Jex to give Nick a ride to the job site from time to time when Nick was too late to ride in the company truck was the extent of Precision's requests; up to the date of the accident, Jex was neither asked to, nor did he, transport any other employee.