SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 64

(By Senators Yost, Boley and Takubo)

Requesting the Joint Committee on Government and Finance study the benefits, costs and feasibility of developing a federally compliant, public sector state occupational safety and health plan.

            Whereas, The West Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Act was enacted into law in 1987 for the safety and health of public employees in the workplace and this Legislature found that safe workplaces reduce the costs to public employers because unsafe or unhealthful work environments result in lost productivity and workers' compensation expenses; and

            Whereas, The safety standards for public employees were last reviewed eighteen years ago and the Division of Labor has been unable to conduct meaningful oversight of public employee safety due to competing demands for scarce resources; and

            Whereas, The current Occupational Safety and Health Act specifically exempts two categories of employees in sectors that experience a greater rate of employee injuries and lost hours than in other public employee occupations; and

            Whereas, The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics found in 2013 that the incidence rate of on-the-job injuries has increased more rapidly for public health care workers than in any other industry, public or private, but public employee health care workers in West Virginia have been exempted from the protections of our current Occupational Safety and Health Act; and

            Whereas, West Virginia currently ranks fifth highest of all the states in rates of worker injuries, fatalities and lost work hours; and

            Whereas, In the absence of an active enforcement and ongoing review of broadly accepted safety standards by the state, the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration has primary, and largely exclusive, jurisdiction over employee protection and enforcement of workplace safety standards for public sector employees in West Virginia; and

            Whereas, There are just seven inspectors employed by the U. S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for oversight of all work environments and employment sectors for the entire state, and based upon the existing number of employers in West Virginia, it would take 173 years for these seven inspectors just to visit every job site in the state; and

            Whereas, Federal law allows individual state governments to assume primary jurisdiction and local control over the administration of workplace safety standards and cooperative compliance programs between employers and enforcement staff when the state meets sufficient criteria in its legislative and regulatory specifications and planned administration of those provisions; and

            Whereas, Rather than attempting to assume primary oversight of all employment sectors, a state may opt to develop a state compliance plan limited solely to state public sector, and optionally to local government, employers and employees; and

            Whereas, If the state develops a federally compliant plan for its own administration of occupational safety and health programs, the state would be eligible to receive funding from the federal government for fifty percent of the cost of administering the state's program; therefore, be it  

            Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:

            That the Joint Committee on Government and Finance is hereby requested to study the potential benefits, costs and feasibility of developing a federally compliant, public sector state occupational safety and health plan; and, be it

            Further Resolved, That the Joint Committee on Government and Finance report to the regular session of the Legislature, 2016, on its findings, conclusions and recommendations, together with drafts of any legislation necessary to effectuate its recommendations; and, be it

            Further Resolved, That the expenses necessary to conduct this study, to prepare a report and to draft necessary legislation be paid from legislative appropriations to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance.