(a) In order to promote health and safety in places of employment in this state, each employer of twenty-five or more employees in this state, including the state and any political subdivision of the state, and each employer whose rate of work related injury and illness exceeds the average incidence rate of all industries in this state, shall administer a safety and health committee in accordance with regulations adopted pursuant to subsection (b) of this section. For purposes of this subsection, “incidence rate” means the number of federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration recordable injuries and illnesses per one hundred full-time employees.

(b) The chairman of the Workers' Compensation Commission, in consultation with the Labor Commissioner and in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, shall adopt regulations to carry out the provisions of this section. The regulations shall (1) prescribe the membership of safety and health committees to ensure representation of employees and employers; (2) specify the frequency of committee meetings; (3) require employers to make, file and maintain adequate written records of each committee meeting subject to inspection by the chairman or his authorized designee; (4) require employers to compensate employee representatives at their regular hourly wage while the employee representatives are engaged in safety and health committee training or are attending committee meetings; (5) prescribe the duties and functions of safety and health committees, which shall include (A) establishing procedures for workplace safety inspections by the committee, (B) establishing procedures for investigating all safety incidents, accidents, illnesses and deaths, (C) evaluating accident and illness prevention programs, (D) establishing training programs for the identification and reduction of hazards in the workplace which damage the reproductive systems of employees, and (E) establishing training programs to assist committee members in understanding and identifying the effects of employee substance abuse on workplace accidents and safety; and (6) prescribe guidelines for the training of safety and health committee members.

(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, each employer who, on July 1, 1993, has an existing health and safety program or other program determined by the chairman of the Workers' Compensation Commission to be effective in the promotion of health and safety in the workplace, shall not be required to comply with this section. The chairman of the Workers' Compensation Commission, in consultation with the Labor Commissioner, shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, establishing the criteria for evaluating such programs.

(P.A. 93-228, S. 28, 35.)

History: P.A. 93-228 effective July 1, 1993.