HB3776 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB102 15118 JLS 20473 b

102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022
HB3776

Introduced 2/22/2021, by Rep. Aaron M. Ortiz

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the COVID-19 Workplace Safety Response Act. Provides that each public and private employer with at least 30 employees shall establish a safety committee at each of the employer's primary places of employment. Sets forth requirements for the composition of the committees, meetings, records, and training. Establishes the duties of committees relating to hazard assessment and control, safety and health planning, especially as related to the global COVID-19 pandemic, development of procedures for contact tracing, accident investigations, and other specified matters. Provides for the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois Department of Labor to adopt necessary rules.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning employment.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the COVID-19 Workplace Safety Response Act.

Section 5. Legislative Findings. The General Assembly finds that thousands of Illinois workers have contracted the COVID-19 virus in the workplace, in addition to the hundreds that are disabled each year from work-related injuries and diseases. Data prepared by the Department of Public Health shows that as of September 30, 2020 there were at least 2,600 COVID-19 infections directly connected to outbreaks at workplaces in Illinois. These metrics may not include secondary exposures, that is individuals who were at least infected by someone who directly contracted the virus at their workplace. The General Assembly finds that many COVID-19 infections, deaths, and workplace injury and illness losses are needless, costly, and could have been prevented. Columbia University has indicated that workplace outbreaks are one of the most significant factors driving the increases in Illinois, adding that many additional outbreaks have never been made public. The General Assembly concludes that the establishment of joint management and worker safety committees will help prevent such losses.

Section 10. Purpose. It is the purpose of this Act to bring workers and management together in a non-adversarial, cooperative effort to promote safety and health in the workplace and prevent outbreaks, including those of COVID-19, and other health hazards. The workplace safety committees established by this Act shall consist of management and employee representatives who have an interest in the general promotion of safety and health in the workplace.

Section 15. Establishment of workplace safety committees.

(a) Every public and private employer of 30 or more employees shall establish and administer a safety committee.

(b) To determine employment levels for purposes of subsection (a), the employer shall count all permanent, contract, temporary, and seasonal workers under the employer's direction and control and shall base the number on peak employment in the last 12 months.

(c) Temporary services employers and labor contractors shall establish safety committees based upon the total number of workers over which the employer or contractor exercises direction and control.

(d) Employers who hire only seasonal workers shall hold crew safety meetings prior to the commencement of work at each job site. The meetings shall promote discussions of safety and health issues. All workers shall be informed of their right to inspect and report workplace hazards and shall be encouraged to make those inspections and reports during the meetings according to provisions established in the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act.

Section 20. Location of safety committees.

(a) Safety committees shall be established at each of an employer's primary places of employment. As used in this Act, "primary place of employment" means a major economic unit at a single geographic location, comprised of a building or group of buildings, and all surrounding facilities, having the following characteristics: it has both management and workers present; it has control over a portion of a budget; and it has the ability to take action on the majority of the recommendations made by a safety committee.

(b) An employer's auxiliary, mobile, or satellite locations, such as those found in construction operations, trucking, branch or field offices, sales operations, or highly mobile activities, may be combined into a single, centralized committee. This centralized committee shall represent the safety and health concerns of all the locations.

Section 25. Recognition and approval of certain safety committees. Upon application, the Illinois Department of Labor and the Illinois Department of Public Health may recognize and approve safety committees that are innovative or differ in form or function if those committees meet the intent of this Act.

Section 30. Safety committee formation and membership.

(a) The safety committees required under this Act shall be composed of an equal number of employer and employee representatives. Employee representatives shall be selected by their exclusive representative for collective bargaining purposes or, if there is no exclusive representative, employee representatives shall be volunteers or shall be selected by their peers. When agreed upon by workers and management, the number of employee representatives on the committee may be greater than the number of employer representatives. Seasonal workers shall not be counted for the purpose of determining the number of members who will serve on the committee. (b) The safety committees shall consist of:

(1) no fewer than 2 members for each employer with 30 or fewer current employees, or

(2) no fewer than 4 members for each employer with more than 30 current employees; and

(3) have a chairperson elected by the committee members.

(c) Employee representatives attending safety committee meetings required by this Act or participating in safety committee instruction or training required by this Act shall be compensated by the employer at the regular hourly wage.

(d) Employee representatives shall serve a continuous term of at least one year. Length of membership shall be alternated or staggered so that at least one experienced member is always serving on the committee.

(e) Reasonable efforts shall be made to ensure that committee members are representative of the major work activities of the firm.

Section 35. Safety committee meetings.

(a) The committee shall develop a written agenda for conducting safety committee meetings. The agenda shall prescribe the order in which committee business will be addressed during the meeting.

(b) The safety committee shall hold regular meetings at least once a month.

(c) The safety committee shall hold regular meetings in person or via a remote conferencing application when recommended by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

(d) Quarterly safety committee meetings may be substituted for monthly meetings when the committee's sole area of responsibility involves low hazard work environments.

(e) Minutes shall be made of each meeting. The employer shall review the minutes and maintain them for 3 years for inspection by the Illinois Department of Labor, the Illinois Department of Public Health and any other government entity. Copies of minutes shall be posted or made available for all employees and shall be sent to each committee member. All reports, evaluations, and recommendations of the safety committee shall be made a part of the minutes of the safety committee meeting.

(f) For each recommendation made at the committee meetings, a reasonable time limit shall be established for the employer to respond in writing. The response shall include the action taken to comply with the recommendation, and, in any case, the reasons why implementing the action was not accomplished and a time frame to comply.

Section 40. Employee involvement. The committee shall establish a system to allow the members to obtain safety-related suggestions, reports of hazards, or other information directly from all persons involved in the operations of the workplace. The information obtained shall be reviewed at the next safety committee meeting and shall be recorded in the minutes for review and necessary action by the employer.

Section 45. Tasks. The safety committee shall review the employer's injury and illness prevention programs and provide feedback to improve the program when applicable. The safety committee shall also:

(1) Include employer and employee representatives in inspection teams to raise concerns and provide recommendations on the location and identity of the hazards and shall make recommendations to the employer regarding correction of the hazards.

(2) Conduct quarterly inspections of satellite locations by the committee team or by a person designated at the location.

Section 50. Safety and health planning. The safety committee shall establish procedures for the review of all safety and health inspection reports made by the committee. Based on the results of the review, the committee shall make recommendations for improvement of the employer's injury and illness prevention program.

Section 55. Accountability. The safety committee shall evaluate the employer's accountability system and make recommendations to implement supervisor and employee accountability for safety and health.

Section 60. Incident investigation. The safety committee shall provide recommendations and input into the employer's investigating all safety-related incidents including injuries, illnesses, and deaths. This Section does not require the committee to conduct the investigations.

Section 65. Safety and health training and instruction.

(a) The following items shall be discussed with all safety committee members:

(1) safety committee purposes and operation;

(2) rules adopted by the Illinois Department of Labor and Illinois Department of Public Health under this Act; and

(3) methods of conducting safety committee meetings.

(b) Committee members shall have ready access to federal Occupational Safety and Health Codes that apply to the particular establishments and oral instructions regarding their use.

(c) An employer must provide all safety committee members training based upon the type of business activity. At a minimum, members shall receive training regarding:

(1) hazard identification in the workplace; and

(2) principles regarding effective accident and incident investigations.

Section 70. Pandemic provisions. During a pandemic, such as COVID-19, and until the Illinois Department of Public Health declares an end to the pandemic, the employer shall have the following special functions:

(1) Collect and post in conspicuous places, such as bulletin boards, lunch rooms and dressing rooms at each location, information issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States Department Health and Human Services, the United States Department of Labor, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Illinois Department of Public Health, and others concerning prevention and measures to avoid contagion with COVID-19 and other pandemics.

(2) Collect and post in such locations, and distribute to all workers, executive orders regarding COVID-19 and other pandemics issued by the Governor of Illinois.

(3) Prepare and implement a mitigation plan to prevent exposures in a workplace. Mitigations shall be adopted based upon recommendations made by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

(4) Prepare and implement a response plan to be executed in case an outbreak occurs in the workplace, including contact tracing as specified by the Illinois Department of Public Health. An "outbreak" is defined as the existence of 2 or more workers presenting health symptoms related to the pandemic.