102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022
SB1593

 

Introduced 2/26/2021, by Sen. Karina Villa

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
New Act

    Creates the Workplace COVID-19 Safety Committees Act. Provides that each private employer of at least 50 employees shall establish a safety committee at each of the employer's primary places of employment. Establishes requirements for composition of committees and meetings, records, reporting, and training. Provides for the duties of committees relating to hazard assessment and control, safety and health planning, development of procedures for accident investigations, and other specified matters.


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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

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1    AN ACT concerning employment.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5Workplace COVID-19 Safety Committees Act.
 
6    Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds that
7hundreds of thousands of Illinois workers have contracted the
8disease related to the COVID-19 virus in the workplace, and
9that also hundreds are disabled each year from work-related
10injuries and diseases. The General Assembly finds that many
11COVID-19 infections, deaths, and workplace injury and illness
12losses are needless, costly, and could have been prevented.
13The General Assembly concludes that the establishment of joint
14management and worker safety committees will help prevent such
15losses and may reduce workers' compensation costs in this
16State.
 
17    Section 10. Purpose. It is the purpose of this Act to bring
18workers and management together in a non-adversarial,
19cooperative effort to promote safety and health in the
20workplace during the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and
21beyond. The workplace safety committees established by this
22Act shall consist of management and employee representatives

 

 

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1who have an interest in the general promotion of safety and
2health in the workplace.
 
3    Section 15. Establishment of safety committees.
4    (a) Every public and private employer of 50 or more
5employees shall establish and administer a safety committee.
6    (b) To determine the employment levels under subsection
7(a), the employer shall count all permanent, contract,
8temporary, and seasonal workers under the employer's direction
9and control and shall base the number on peak employment.
10    (c) Temporary services employers and labor contractors
11shall establish safety committees based upon the total number
12of workers over which the employer or contractor exercises
13direction and control.
14    (d) Employers who hire only seasonal workers shall hold
15crew safety meetings prior to the commencement of work at each
16job site. The meetings shall promote discussions of safety and
17health issues. All workers shall be informed of their right to
18inspect and report workplace hazards and shall be encouraged
19to make those inspections and reports during the meetings
20according to provisions established in the federal
21Occupational Safety and Health Act.
 
22    Section 20. Location of safety committees.
23    (a) Safety committees shall be established at each of an
24employer's primary places of employment. As used in this Act,

 

 

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1"primary place of employment" means a major economic unit at a
2single geographic location, comprised of a building or group
3of buildings, and all surrounding facilities, having the
4following characteristics: it has both management and workers
5present; it has control over a portion of a budget; and it has
6the ability to take action on the majority of the
7recommendations made by a safety committee.
8    (b) An employer's auxiliary, mobile, or satellite
9locations, such as those found in construction operations,
10trucking, branch or field offices, sales operations, or highly
11mobile activities, may be combined into a single, centralized
12safety committee. This centralized safety committee shall
13represent the safety and health concerns of all the locations.
 
14    Section 25. Recognition and approval of certain safety
15committees. Upon application, the Department of Labor and the
16Department of Public Health may recognize and approve safety
17committees that are innovative or differ in form or function
18if those safety committees meet the intent of this Act.
 
19    Section 30. Safety committee formation and membership.
20    (a) The safety committees required under this Act shall be
21composed of an equal number of employer and employee
22representatives. Employee representatives shall be selected by
23their exclusive representative for collective bargaining
24purposes or, if there is no exclusive representative, employee

 

 

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1representatives shall be volunteers or shall be elected by
2their peers. When agreed upon by workers and management, the
3number of employees on the safety committee may be greater
4than the number of employer representatives. Seasonal workers
5shall not be counted for the purpose of determining the number
6of members who will serve on the safety committee.
7    (b) The safety committees shall consist of:
8        (1) no fewer than 2 members for each employer with 50
9    or fewer employees; or
10        (2) no fewer than 4 members for each employer with
11    more than 50 employees.
12    The safety committees shall have a chairperson elected by
13the safety committee members.
14    (c) Employee representatives attending safety committee
15meetings required by this Act or participating in safety
16committee instruction or training required by this Act shall
17be compensated by the employer at the regular hourly wage.
18    (d) Employee representatives shall serve a continuous term
19of at least one year. Length of membership shall be alternated
20or staggered so that at least one experienced member is always
21serving on the safety committee.
22    (e) Reasonable efforts shall be made to ensure that safety
23committee members are representative of the major work
24activities of the firm.
 
25    Section 35. Safety committee meetings.

 

 

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1    (a) The safety committee shall develop a written agenda
2for conducting safety committee meetings. The agenda shall
3prescribe the order in which safety committee business will be
4addressed during the meeting.
5    (b) The safety committee shall hold regular meetings at
6least once a month.
7    (c) Quarterly safety committee meetings may be substituted
8for monthly meetings when the safety committee's sole area of
9responsibility involves low hazard work environments. A low
10hazard workplace is a work environment that has not had a
11workplace accident, injury, or reportable medical disease
12causing the loss of working days for any worker during a
133-month period.
14    (d) Small farms with 5 or fewer full time employees may
15substitute quarterly meetings for monthly meetings during the
16farms' off season. "Off season" means that period of time when
17only routine farm upkeep is being done.
18    (e) Minutes shall be made of each meeting. The employer
19shall maintain the minutes for 3 years for inspection by the
20Department of Labor and the Department of Public Health.
21Copies of the minutes shall be posted or made available for all
22employees and shall be sent to each safety committee member.
23All reports, evaluations, and recommendations of the safety
24committee shall be made a part of the minutes of the safety
25committee meeting.
26    (f) For each recommendation made at the safety committee

 

 

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1meetings, a reasonable time limit shall be established for the
2employer to respond in writing. The response should include
3the action taken to comply with the recommendations, and, in
4any case, the reasons why implementing the action was not
5accomplished and a time frame to comply.
 
6    Section 40. Employee involvement. The safety committee
7shall establish a system to allow the members to obtain
8safety-related suggestions, reports of hazards, or other
9information directly from all persons involved in the
10operations of the workplace. The information obtained shall be
11reviewed at the next safety committee meeting and shall be
12recorded in the minutes for review and necessary action by the
13employer.
 
14    Section 45. Hazard assessment and control.
15    (a) The safety committee shall assist the employer in
16evaluating the employer's accident and illness prevention
17program and shall make written recommendations to improve the
18program when applicable. The safety committee shall also:
19        (1) include employer and employee representatives in
20    inspection teams, shall document in writing the location
21    and identity of the hazards, and shall make
22    recommendations to the employer regarding correction of
23    the hazards; and
24        (2) conduct quarterly inspections of satellite

 

 

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1    locations by the safety committee team or by a person
2    designated at the location.
3    (b) The person designated to carry out inspection
4activities at the locations identified in items (1) and (2) of
5subsection (a) shall be selected by the employer and shall
6receive training in hazard identification in the workplace.
 
7    Section 50. Safety and health planning. The safety
8committee shall establish procedures for the review of all
9safety and health inspection reports made by the safety
10committee. Based on the results of the review, the safety
11committee shall make recommendations for improvement of the
12employer's accident and illness prevention program. The safety
13committee shall evaluate the employer's accountability system
14and make recommendations to implement supervisor and employee
15accountability for safety and health.
 
16    Section 55. Accident investigation. The safety committee
17shall establish procedures for investigating all
18safety-related incidents including injury accidents,
19illnesses, and deaths. This Section shall not be construed to
20require the safety committee to conduct the investigations.
 
21    Section 60. Safety and health training and instruction.
22    (a) The following items shall be discussed with all safety
23committee members:

 

 

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1        (1) safety committee purposes and operation;
2        (2) rules adopted by the Department of Labor under
3    this Act; and
4        (3) methods of conducting safety committee meetings.
5    (b) Safety committee members shall have ready access to
6Occupational Safety and Health Codes that apply to the
7particular establishment and verbal instructions regarding
8their use.
9    (c) All safety committee members shall receive training
10based upon the type of business activity. At a minimum,
11members shall receive training regarding:
12        (1) hazard identification in the workplace; and
13        (2) principles regarding effective accident and
14    incident investigations.
 
15    Section 65. Special COVID-19 pandemic provisions. During
16the COVID-19 pandemic, until the health authorities declare an
17end to it, the safety committee shall have the following
18special functions:
19        (1) Collect and post in conspicuous places, such as
20    bulletin boards, lunch rooms, and dressing rooms at each
21    location, information issued by the Centers for Disease
22    Control and Prevention of the United States Department of
23    Health and Human Services, the United States Department of
24    Labor, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration,
25    the Department of Public Health, and others concerning

 

 

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1    prevention and measures to avoid contagion with COVID-19.
2        (2) Collect and post in such locations, and deliver to
3    all workers, executive orders regarding COVID-19 issued by
4    the Governor of Illinois.
5        (3) Prepare and implement a response plan to be
6    executed in case an outbreak occurs in the workplace. An
7    outbreak of COVID-19 means the existence of 2 or more
8    workers presenting symptoms related to COVID-19 infection.
9        (4) Make sure all mandated reporting of outbreaks to
10    the Department of Public Health is implemented.