State of Illinois
90th General Assembly
Legislation

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90_SB1025

      New Act
          Creates the Workplace  Safety  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.     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.
                                                     LRB9002685WHmg
                                               LRB9002685WHmg
 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 Committee Act.
 6        Section 5. Legislative  findings.  The  General  Assembly
 7    finds  that  thousands  of Illinois workers are disabled each
 8    year from work-related injuries. The General  Assembly  finds
 9    that  many workplace injury and illness losses due to hazards
10    are needless, costly, and preventable. The  General  Assembly
11    concludes  that  the  establishment  of  joint management and
12    worker safety committees will help prevent  such  losses  and
13    may reduce workers' compensation costs in this State.
14        Section  10.  Purpose.  It  is the purpose of this Act to
15    bring workers and management together in  a  non-adversarial,
16    cooperative  effort  to  promote  safety  and  health  in the
17    workplace. The Workplace  Safety  Committees  established  by
18    this   Act   shall   consist   of   management  and  employee
19    representatives who have an interest in the general promotion
20    of safety and health in the workplace.
21        Section 15. Establishment of Safety Committees.
22        (a)  Every public and private  employer  of  50  or  more
23    employees shall establish and administer a safety committee.
24        (b)  In  making  determination of employment levels under
25    subsection (a),  the  employer  shall  count  all  permanent,
26    contract,   temporary,   and   seasonal   workers  under  the
27    employer's direction and control and shall base the number on
28    peak employment.
29        (c)  Temporary services employers and  labor  contractors
                            -2-                LRB9002685WHmg
 1    shall establish safety committees based upon the total number
 2    of  workers  over  which the employer or contractor exercises
 3    direction and control.
 4        (d)  Employers who hire only seasonal workers shall  hold
 5    crew  safety  meetings  prior  to the commencement of work at
 6    each job site. The  meetings  shall  promote  discussions  of
 7    safety  and  health  issues. All workers shall be informed of
 8    their  right  to  report  workplace  hazards  and  shall   be
 9    encouraged to make those reports during the meetings.
10        Section 20. Location of safety committees.
11        (a)  Safety committees shall be established at each of an
12    employer's primary places of employment. As used in this Act,
13    "primary  place of employment" means a major economic unit at
14    a single geographic location,  comprised  of  a  building  or
15    group  of  buildings,  and all surrounding facilities, having
16    the following characteristics: it  has  both  management  and
17    workers  present;  it has control over a portion of a budget;
18    and it has the ability to take action on the majority of  the
19    recommendations made by a safety committee.
20        (b)  An   employer's   auxiliary,  mobile,  or  satellite
21    locations, such as those found  in  construction  operations,
22    trucking,  branch  or  field  offices,  sales  operations, or
23    highly mobile activities, may  be  combined  into  a  single,
24    centralized   committee.  This  centralized  committee  shall
25    represent  the  safety  and  health  concerns  of   all   the
26    locations.
27        Section  25.  Approval of certain safety committees. Upon
28    application, the  Department  of  Labor  may  approve  safety
29    committees  that are innovative or differ in form or function
30    if those committees meet the intent of this Act.
31        Section 30. Safety committee formation and membership.
                            -3-                LRB9002685WHmg
 1        (a)  The safety committees required under this Act shall:
 2             (1)  Be composed of an equal number of employer  and
 3        employee  representatives. Employee representatives shall
 4        be  selected  by  their  exclusive   representative   for
 5        collective   bargaining  purposes  or,  if  there  is  no
 6        exclusive representative, employee representatives  shall
 7        be  volunteers  or  shall be elected by their peers. When
 8        agreed upon by workers  and  management,  the  number  of
 9        employees on the committee may be greater than the number
10        of  employer  representatives. Seasonal workers shall not
11        be counted for the purpose of determining the  number  of
12        members who will serve on the committee.
13             (2)  Consist of:
14                  (A)  No  fewer than 2 members for each employer
15             with 20 or fewer employees, or
16                  (B)  No fewer than 4 members for each  employer
17             with more than 20 employees.
18             (3)  Have  a  chairperson  elected  by the committee
19        members.
20        (b)  Employee representatives attending safety  committee
21    meetings  required  by  this  Act  or participating in safety
22    committee instruction or training required by this Act  shall
23    be compensated by the employer at the regular hourly wage.
24        (c)  Employee  representatives  shall  serve a continuous
25    term of at least one year.  Length  of  membership  shall  be
26    alternated  or  staggered  so  that  at least one experienced
27    member is always serving on the committee.
28        (d)  Reasonable efforts shall  be  made  to  ensure  that
29    committee  members  are  representative  of  the  major  work
30    activities of the firm.
31        Section 35. Safety committee meetings.
32        (a)  The  committee  shall  develop  a written agenda for
33    conducting  safety  committee  meetings.  The  agenda   shall
                            -4-                LRB9002685WHmg
 1    prescribe  the  order  in  which  committee  business will be
 2    addressed during the meeting.
 3        (b)  The safety committee shall hold regular meetings  at
 4    least once a month.
 5        (c)  Quarterly   safety   committee   meetings   may   be
 6    substituted  for  monthly  meetings when the committee's sole
 7    area of responsibility involves low hazard work  environments
 8    such as offices.
 9        (d)  Small  farms  of  5 or fewer full time employees may
10    substitute quarterly meetings for monthly meetings during the
11    farms' off season.  "Off season" means that  period  of  time
12    when only routine farm upkeep is being done.
13        (e)  Minutes  shall be made of each meeting. The employer
14    shall review the minutes and maintain them for  3  years  for
15    inspection  by  the  Department  of  Labor. Copies of minutes
16    shall be posted or made available for all employees and shall
17    be sent to each committee member. All  reports,  evaluations,
18    and  recommendations  of the safety committee shall be made a
19    part of the  minutes  of  the  safety  committee  meeting.  A
20    reasonable  time  limit shall be established for the employer
21    to   respond   in   writing   to   all    safety    committee
22    recommendations.
23        Section  40.  Employee  involvement.  The committee shall
24    establish  a  system  to  allow   the   members   to   obtain
25    safety-related  suggestions,  reports  of  hazards,  or other
26    information  directly  from  all  persons  involved  in   the
27    operations  of  the workplace. The information obtained shall
28    be reviewed at the next safety committee meeting and shall be
29    recorded in the minutes for review and  necessary  action  by
30    the employer.
31        Section 45. Hazard assessment and control.
32        (a)  The  safety  committee  shall assist the employer in
                            -5-                LRB9002685WHmg
 1    evaluating the employer's  accident  and  illness  prevention
 2    program and shall make written recommendations to improve the
 3    program when applicable. The safety committee shall also:
 4             (1)  Establish  procedures for workplace inspections
 5        by the safety committee inspection  team  to  locate  and
 6        identify safety and health hazards;
 7             (2)  Conduct    workplace   inspections   at   least
 8        quarterly; and
 9             (3)  Recommend to  the  employer  how  to  eliminate
10        hazards and unsafe work practices in the workplace.
11        (b)  The  inspection  team  shall  include  employer  and
12    employee  representatives,  shall  document  in  writing  the
13    location   and  identity  of  the  hazards,  and  shall  make
14    recommendations to the employer regarding correction  of  the
15    hazards.
16        (c)  Quarterly  inspections  of satellite locations shall
17    be conducted by the committee team or by a person  designated
18    at the location.
19        (d)  The   person  designated  to  carry  out  inspection
20    activities at the locations identified in subsections (b) and
21    (c) shall be selected  by  the  employer  and  shall  receive
22    training in hazard identification in the workplace.
23        Section  50.  Safety  and  health  planning.  The  safety
24    committee  shall  establish  procedures for the review of all
25    safety and health inspection reports made by  the  committee.
26    Based  on the results of the review, the committee shall make
27    recommendations for improvement of  the  employer's  accident
28    and illness prevention program.
29        Section  55.  Accountability.  The safety committee shall
30    evaluate  the  employer's  accountability  system  and   make
31    recommendations   to   implement   supervisor   and  employee
32    accountability for safety and health.
                            -6-                LRB9002685WHmg
 1        Section 60. Accident investigation. The safety  committee
 2    shall    establish    procedures    for   investigating   all
 3    safety-related   incidents   including   injury    accidents,
 4    illnesses, and deaths. This Section shall not be construed to
 5    require the committee to conduct the investigations.
 6        Section 65. Safety and health training and instruction.
 7        (a)  The  following  items  shall  be  discussed with all
 8    safety committee members:
 9             (1)  Safety committee purposes and operation;
10             (2)  Rules adopted by the Department of Labor  under
11        this Act; and
12             (3)  Methods    of   conducting   safety   committee
13        meetings.
14        (b)  Committee  members  shall  have  ready   access   to
15    Occupational  Safety  and  Health  Codes  that  apply  to the
16    particular establishment and  verbal  instructions  regarding
17    their use.
18        (c)  All  safety committee members shall receive training
19    based upon the type  of  business  activity.  At  a  minimum,
20    members shall receive training regarding:
21             (1)  Hazard identification in the workplace; and
22             (2)  Principles  regarding  effective  accident  and
23        incident investigations.

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