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90_HB1475
New Act
Creates the Workplace Safety and Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Prevention Committee Act. Provides that each public and
private employer of at least 50 employees shall establish a
safety committee at each of the employer's primary places of
employment (as defined in the Act). Provides for:
composition, meetings, records, and training of committees;
and duties of committees relating to hazard assessment and
control, safety and health planning, developing procedures
for accident investigations, and other specified matters.
LRB9004454WHmg
LRB9004454WHmg
1 AN ACT concerning workplace safety.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5 Workplace Safety and Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention
6 Committee Act.
7 Section 5. Legislative findings. The General Assembly
8 finds that thousands of Illinois workers are disabled each
9 year from work-related injuries. The General Assembly finds
10 that many workplace injury and illness losses due to hazards
11 are needless, costly, and preventable. The General Assembly
12 further finds that many unnecessary workplace accidents are
13 caused, or contributed to, by employees under the influence
14 of alcohol or drugs. The General Assembly concludes that the
15 establishment of joint management and worker safety
16 committees will help prevent such losses and may reduce
17 workers' compensation costs in this State.
18 Section 10. Purpose. It is the purpose of this Act to
19 bring workers and management together in a non-adversarial,
20 cooperative effort to promote safety and health in the
21 workplace. The Workplace Safety and Alcohol and Drug Abuse
22 Prevention Committees established by this Act (hereafter
23 referred to as "safety committees") shall consist of
24 management and employee representatives who have an interest
25 in the general promotion of safety and health in the
26 workplace.
27 Section 15. Establishment of Safety and Alcohol and Drug
28 Abuse Prevention Committees.
29 (a) Every public and private employer of 50 or more
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1 employees shall establish and administer a safety committee.
2 (b) In making determination of employment levels under
3 subsection (a), the employer shall count all permanent,
4 contract, temporary, and seasonal workers under the
5 employer's direction and control and shall base the number on
6 peak employment.
7 (c) Temporary services employers and labor contractors
8 shall establish safety committees based upon the total number
9 of workers over which the employer or contractor exercises
10 direction and control.
11 (d) Employers who hire only seasonal workers shall hold
12 crew safety meetings prior to the commencement of work at
13 each job site. The meetings shall promote discussions of
14 safety and health issues. All workers shall be informed of
15 their right to report workplace hazards and shall be
16 encouraged to make those reports during the meetings.
17 Section 20. Location of safety committees.
18 (a) Safety committees shall be established at each of an
19 employer's primary places of employment. As used in this Act,
20 a "primary place of employment" means a major economic unit
21 at a single geographic location, comprised of a building,
22 group of buildings, and all surrounding facilities, having
23 the following characteristics: it has both management and
24 workers present; it has control over a portion of a budget,
25 and it has the ability to take action on the majority of the
26 recommendations made by a safety committee.
27 (b) An employer's auxiliary, mobile, or satellite
28 locations, such as those found in construction operations,
29 trucking, branch or field offices, sales operations, or
30 highly mobile activities, may be combined into a single,
31 centralized committee. This centralized committee shall
32 represent the safety and health concerns of all the
33 locations.
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1 Section 25. Approval of certain safety committees. Upon
2 application, the Department of Labor may approve safety
3 committees that are innovative or differ in form or function
4 if those committees meet the intent of this Act.
5 Section 30. Safety committee formation and membership.
6 (a) The safety committees required under this Act shall:
7 (1) Be composed of an equal number of employer and
8 employee representatives. Employee representatives shall
9 be selected by their exclusive representative for
10 collective bargaining purposes or, if there is no
11 exclusive representative, employee representatives shall
12 be volunteers or shall be elected by their peers. When
13 agreed upon by workers and management, the number of
14 employees on the committee may be greater than the number
15 of employer representatives. Seasonal workers shall not
16 be counted for the purpose of determining the number of
17 members who will serve on the committee.
18 (2) Consist of:
19 (A) No fewer than 2 members for each employer
20 with 20 or fewer employees, or
21 (B) No fewer than 4 members for each employer
22 with more than 20 employees.
23 (3) Have a chairperson elected by the committee
24 members.
25 (b) Employee representatives attending safety committee
26 meetings required by this Act or participating in safety
27 committee instruction or training required by this Act shall
28 be compensated by the employer at the regular hourly wage.
29 (c) Employee representatives shall serve a continuous
30 term of at least one year. Length of membership shall be
31 alternated or staggered so that at least one experienced
32 member is always serving on the committee.
33 (d) Reasonable efforts shall be made to ensure that
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1 committee members are representative of the major work
2 activities of the firm.
3 Section 35. Safety committee meetings.
4 (a) The committee shall develop a written agenda for
5 conducting safety committee meetings. The agenda shall
6 prescribe the order in which committee business will be
7 addressed during the meeting.
8 (b) The safety committee shall hold regular meetings at
9 least once a month.
10 (c) Quarterly safety committee meetings may be
11 substituted for monthly meetings when the committee's sole
12 area of responsibility involves low hazard work environments
13 such as offices.
14 (d) Small farms of 5 or fewer full time employees may
15 substitute quarterly meetings for monthly meetings during the
16 farms' off season. The off season means that period of time
17 when only routine farm upkeep is being done.
18 (e) Minutes shall be made of each meeting. The employer
19 shall review the minutes and maintain them for 3 years for
20 inspection by the Department of Labor. Copies of minutes
21 shall be posted or made available for all employees and shall
22 be sent to each committee member. All reports, evaluations,
23 and recommendations of the safety committee shall be made a
24 part of the minutes of the safety committee meeting. A
25 reasonable time limit shall be established for the employer
26 to respond in writing to all safety committee
27 recommendations.
28 Section 40. Employee involvement. The committee shall
29 establish a system to allow the members to obtain
30 safety-related suggestions, reports of hazards, or other
31 information directly from all persons involved in the
32 operations of the workplace. The information obtained shall
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1 be reviewed at the next safety committee meeting and shall be
2 recorded in the minutes for review and necessary action by
3 the employer.
4 Section 45. Hazard assessment and control.
5 (a) The safety committee shall assist the employer in
6 evaluating the employer's accident and illness prevention
7 program and shall make written recommendations to improve the
8 program when applicable. The safety committee shall also:
9 (1) Establish procedures for workplace inspections
10 by the safety committee inspection team to locate and
11 identify safety and health hazards;
12 (2) Conduct workplace inspections at least
13 quarterly;
14 (3) Recommend to the employer how to eliminate
15 hazards and unsafe work practices in the workplace; and
16 (4) Recommend to the employer how employees can
17 cooperate with their employer to locate and identify
18 employees who are endangering their health and safety,
19 and the health and safety of others, by working while
20 intoxicated by alcohol or drugs.
21 (b) The inspection team shall include employer and
22 employee representatives, shall document in writing the
23 location and identity of the hazards, and shall make
24 recommendations to the employer regarding correction of the
25 hazards.
26 (c) Quarterly inspections of satellite locations shall
27 be conducted by the committee team or by a person designated
28 at the location.
29 (d) The person designated to carry out inspection
30 activities at the locations identified in subsections (b) and
31 (c) shall be selected by the employer and shall receive
32 training in hazard identification in the workplace.
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1 Section 50. Safety and health planning. The safety
2 committee shall establish procedures for the review of all
3 safety and health inspection reports made by the committee.
4 Based on the results of the review, the committee shall make
5 recommendations for improvement of the employer's accident
6 and illness prevention program.
7 Section 55. Accountability. The safety committee shall
8 evaluate the employer's accountability system and make
9 recommendations to implement supervisor and employee
10 accountability for safety and health.
11 Section 60. Accident investigation. The safety committee
12 shall establish procedures for investigating all
13 safety-related incidents including injury accidents,
14 illnesses, and deaths. This Section shall not be construed to
15 require the committee to conduct the investigations.
16 Section 65. Safety and health training and instruction.
17 (a) The following items shall be discussed with all
18 safety committee members:
19 (1) Safety committee purposes and operation;
20 (2) Rules adopted by the Department of Labor under
21 this Act; and
22 (3) Methods of conducting safety committee
23 meetings.
24 (b) Committee members shall have ready access to
25 Occupational Safety and Health Codes that apply to the
26 particular establishment and verbal instructions regarding
27 their use.
28 (c) All safety committee members shall receive training
29 based upon the type of business activity. At a minimum,
30 members shall receive training regarding:
31 (1) Hazard identification in the workplace; and
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1 (2) Principles regarding effective accident and
2 incident investigations.
3 (3) Methods for identifying employees who may be
4 under the influence of alcohol or drugs while at work.