SENATE, No. 1848
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
INTRODUCED MARCH 3, 1997
By Senator SINAGRA
An Act concerning Joint Safety and Health Committees for State employees, supplementing P.L.1983, c.516 (C.34:6A-25 et seq.) and making an appropriation.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. For the purposes of this act:
"Committee" means a Joint Safety and Health Committee established pursuant to section 2 of this act.
"Commission" means the Workplace Safety and Health Commission established pursuant to section 3 of this act or the Workplace Safety and Health Commission established pursuant to section 2 of P.L. c. (C. )(now pending before the Legislature as Senate Bill No.1816).
"Designated industry" means an industry which is found by the Commissioner of Labor to have a relatively high level of safety and health hazards and shall include all industries under the following group numbers of the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC), as designated by the Standard Industrial Classification Manual prepared by the Federal Office of Management and Budget: 01-09 (agriculture, forestry and fishing); 15-17 (construction); 20-39 (manufacturing); and 41-49 (transportation, communications, electric, gas and sanitary services).
"Employee representative" means an organization engaged in a collective bargaining or collective negotiation relationship with an employer.
"Employer" means any State department or any agency or authority of the State which is independent of all State departments, except any bi-State authority.
"Facility" means all buildings, structures or other stationary items located on a single site or on contiguous or adjacent sites owned or operated by an employer.
"Safety and health programs" means all safety and health programs of a facility, including accident and illness prevention programs and programs to minimize the danger of violence to employees, including programs developed and implemented pursuant to P.L. , c. (C. )(now pending before the Legislature as Assembly Bill, No.1656).
2. a. Each employer shall, not later than 180 days after the effective date of this act, establish a Joint Safety and Health Committee, which shall have, taking into consideration the number of employees of the employer, a reasonable number of members, but not fewer than eight, to carry out the duties of the committee, and the committee shall consist of an equal number of employer members and employee members. At each facility where 25 or more employees of the employer work, the committee shall have, taking into consideration the size of the facility, a reasonable number of on-site facility representatives, but not fewer than two, to carry out duties required at the facility, and at each facility there shall be an equal number of employer on-site facility representatives and employee on-site facility representatives.
b. If employees of the employer are represented by one or more employee representatives:
(1) The committee shall be established with the participation and the written consent of the employer and the employee representative or representatives;
(2) The employee representative or representatives shall select all of the employee members of the committee and each employee representative shall select a number of employee members to the committee which is in proportion to the number of employees of the employer represented by the employee representative; and
(3) The employee representative or representatives shall select all of the employee on-site facility representatives at all facilities of the employer, and each employee representative shall select a number of employee on-site facility representatives which is in proportion to the number of employees represented by the employee representative at the facility.
c. If no employees at the facility are represented by an employee representative, the employee members of the committee and the employee on-site facility representatives shall be employees who have volunteered to be committee members or employee on-site facility representatives and who are not managers or supervisors.
d. Each committee shall be required, in a manner consistent with standards set by the Commissioner of Labor, in consultation with the commission and the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services, to:
(1) Hold regular meetings, not less than once each month, unless the employer and employee members of the committee agree to meet less frequently than once each month, and prepare written minutes of the meetings;
(2) Collect and analyze information, including information provided by on-site facility representatives, regarding safety and health conditions at the facility and prepare written reports for the employer of its findings and recommendations;
(3) Collect and analyze information, including information provided by on-site facility representatives, regarding the effectiveness of all safety and health programs of the employer in preventing injury and illness and prepare written reports for the employer of its findings and recommendations;
(4) Reduce and prevent injury and illness by disseminating information to employees and raising employee awareness regarding safety and health conditions and the best practices; and
(5) Keep and make available to employees all records of the committee, including minutes and records of all reviews, inspections, investigations, recommendations made by the committee and its representatives and employer responses to committee recommendations, for not less than three years.
e. The on-site facility representatives at each facility shall hold regular meetings, not less than once each month, unless the employer and employee on-site facility representatives agree to meet less frequently than once each month, and prepare written minutes of the meetings. The on-site facility representatives shall collect and analyze information regarding safety and health conditions at the facility, by means including inspections which cover the facility not less than one time each calendar quarter if the facility is in a designated industry, or not less than one time in six months if the facility is not in a designated industry, and investigations of accidents and exposures, for which the on-site facility representatives shall be given timely and reasonable access to conduct the investigations and prepare written reports for the committee and the employer of their findings and recommendations, including recommendations for the abatement of any hazards observed by the on-site facility representatives. All reports made by the on-site facility representatives shall fully reflect the views of both the employer on-site facility representatives and the employee on-site facility representatives;
f. The employer shall provide a written response to any recommendation made by the committee or its representatives within a reasonable period of time after the recommendation is received by the employer, which shall not exceed 14 consecutive days after the date of receipt in the case of a recommendation for hazard abatement.
g. If employees of an employer are represented by one or more employee representatives, the operations of the committee and activities of the committee's on-site facility representatives shall not violate any provision of a collective bargaining agreement; and, if the committee is established pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement, the committee and the committee's on-site facility representatives may exercise, in addition to the responsibilities indicated in this section, any other responsibilities permitted by law and the collective bargaining agreement;
h. Committee members and on-site facility representatives shall be compensated at their regular wage for time spent performing committee duties and training provided pursuant to this subsection. The committee members and on-site facility representatives shall be provided with training which is designed to enable them to carry out their duties as committee members and on-site facility representatives and which complies with standards set by the Commissioner of Labor in consultation with the commission and the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services.
3. a. There is established, in the Department of Labor, the Workplace Safety and Health Commission. The commission shall consist of 13 members as follows: the Commissioner of Banking and Insurance, the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services, the Commissioner of Commerce and Economic Development, the Commissioner of Labor and the Commissioner of Personnel or their designees, who shall serve ex-officio and shall be non-voting members; and eight public members who have knowledge, competence or experience in connection with occupational safety and health, workplace injuries and illnesses or safety and health programs. Of the eight public members, four shall be appointed by the Governor from a list or lists of nominees provided by one or more recognized State-wide organizations representing businesses and the other four shall be appointed by the Governor from a list or lists of nominees provided by one or more recognized State-wide organizations representing labor unions.
b. All appointments shall be made within 90 days after the effective date of this act. The appointed members of the commission shall serve for a term ending on December 31, 1999. Vacancies in the membership of the appointed members of the commission shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointments.
c. The members of the commission shall serve without compensation, but shall be reimbursed for necessary expenditures incurred in the performance of their duties as members of the commission, within the limits of funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the commission for its purposes.
d. The commission shall organize as soon as possible after the appointments are made and shall select a chairperson from among its members. The commission may appoint a secretary, who need not be a member of the commission. The commission shall meet at least quarterly and may hold meetings and hearings at such places and times as it designates. No action shall be taken by the commission except by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the commission who are voting members pursuant to subsection a. of this section.
e. The commission shall issue a report to the Governor and the Legislature not later than June 1, 1999 which evaluates and describes the effectiveness of the provisions of this act and of P.L. , c. (C. ) (now pending before the Legislature as Senate Bill No.1816) in improving workplace safety and health. The report shall make recommendations regarding whether to modify the provisions of this act, recommendations regarding whether to continue after December 31, 1999 or modify the provisions of P.L. , c. (C. )(now pending before the Legislature as Senate Bill No.1816), and recommendations regarding possible methods to induce employers other than the State to establish Joint Safety and Health Committees. The report shall include any draft legislation needed to implement recommendations of the report. The commission shall expire on December 31, 1999.
f. The commission may hold public hearings and shall have access to all files and records of each Joint Safety and Health Committee established pursuant to the provisions of this act and P.L. , c. (C. )(now pending before the Legislature as Senate Bill No.1816) and all files and records of the Department of Banking and Insurance, the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Senior Services, the Department of Personnel and other relevant State agencies and may call to its assistance and avail itself of the services of the employees of those departments and agencies to provide whatever information the commission deems necessary in the performance of its functions.
4. The Commissioner of Labor, in consultation with the Commissioner of Personnel, the Commissioner of Banking and Insurance, the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services and the Workplace Safety and Health Commission, shall, pursuant to the provisions of the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), promulgate rules and regulations to effectuate the provisions of this act.
5. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Workplace Safety and Health Commission $75,000 to implement the provisions of this act.
6. This act shall take effect on the 180th day following enactment, except that, if P.L. , c. (C. )(now pending before the Legislature asSenate Bill No.1816) is enacted:
a. Section 3 of this act shall not take effect if P.L. , c. (C. )(now pending before the Legislature as Senate Bill No.1816) is enacted prior to or on the effective date of this act;
b. Section 3 of this act shall be superseded by section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. )(now pending before the Legislature as Senate Bill No.1816) if P.L. . c. (C. ) (now pending before the Legislature as Senate Bill No.1816) is enacted after the effective date of this act; and
c. The Workplace Safety and Health Commission established pursuant to section 2 of P.L c. (C. )(now pending before the Legislature asSenate Bill No.1816) shall serve as the Workplace Safety and Health Commission for the purposes of this act, provided that, if this act takes effect prior to the enactment of P.L. , c. (C. ) (now pending before the Legislature as Senate Bill No.1816) and members of the commission have been appointed pursuant to section 3 of this act, those members shall be members of the commission under the provisions of section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. )(now pending before the Legislature as Senate Bill No.1816).
STATEMENT
This bill directs each State department or State agency which is not part of a department to establish a Joint Safety and Health Committee with at least eight members, four of whom are employer members and four of whom are employee members. If the department or agency is unionized, the bill requires that the committee be established with the participation and the written consent of both the employer and the unions and that the unions select the employee members of the committee. If the department or agency is not unionized, the bill requires that employee members be volunteers who are not managers or supervisors.
The bill requires the committee to have not fewer than two committee representatives at each facility with 25 or more employees of the department or agency, and requires that half of the representatives be employees and half of them be employer representatives, selected in the same manner as the committee members.
Each committee is required to: hold regular meetings; collect and analyze information, including information provided by onsite facility representatives, regarding safety and health conditions at the facility; collect and analyze information, including information provided by on-site facility representatives, regarding the effectiveness of safety and health programs; reduce and prevent injury and illness by disseminating information to employees and raising employee awareness regarding safety and health conditions and the best practices; and prepare written reports for the employer of its findings and recommendations.
The on-site facility representatives at each facility are required by the bill to hold regular meetings, usually not less than once each month, and prepare written minutes of the meetings. The on-site facility representatives are directed to collect and analyze information regarding safety and health conditions at the facility, by means including inspections of the facility and investigations of accidents and exposures, for which the committee representatives must be given timely and reasonable access, and prepare written reports for the committee and the employer of their findings and recommendations, including recommendations for the abatement of any hazards.
The employer is required to provide a written response to a recommendation within a reasonable time, not exceeding 14 days in the case of a recommendation for hazard abatement. The bill requires that committee members and on-site facility representatives be paid their regular wage when performing committee duties and provided with training to enable them to carry out their duties as committee members.
The bill also establishes a Workplace Safety and Health Commission to review and report on the impact of the bill and related legislation on participating employers and their employees and make recommendations regarding modifications in the provisions of the bill and regarding possible legislation to induce employers other than the State to establish Joint Safety and Health Committees.
Concerns Joint Safety and Health Committees in State government; appropriates $75,000.