COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2411
(By By Delegates Caputo, Hamilton, D. Poling, M. Poling)
(Originating in the House Committee on the Judiciary)
[March 20, 2009]
A BILL to amend and reenact §21-3-1 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to requiring that workplace
fatalities be reported to the Division of Labor.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §21-3-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. SAFETY AND WELFARE OF EMPLOYEES.
§21-3-1. Employers to safeguard life, etc., of employees; reports
and investigations of accidents; orders of
commissioner.
Every employer shall furnish employment which shall be
reasonably safe for the employees therein engaged and shall furnish
and use safety devices and safeguards, and shall adopt and use
methods and processes reasonably adequate to render employment and
the place of employment safe, and shall do every other thing
reasonably necessary to protect the life, health, safety, and welfare of such employees. Provided, That As used in this section,
the terms "safe" or "safety" as applied to any employment, place of
employment, place of public assembly or public building, shall
include, without being restricted hereby, conditions and methods of
sanitation and hygiene reasonably necessary for the protection of
the life, health, safety, or welfare of employees or the public.
Every employer and every owner of a place of employment, place
of public assembly, or a public building, now or hereafter
constructed, shall so construct, repair and maintain the same as to
render it reasonably safe.
When an accident occurs in any place of employment or public
institution which results in injury or death to any employee, the
employer or owner of such place of employment or public
institution, when the same shall come to his or her knowledge,
shall provide report to the Commissioner of Labor the necessary
information as to cause of the injury on blanks furnished free of
charge to the employer and or death in a timely manner as shall be
prescribed by the Commissioner of Labor.
To carry out the provisions of this chapter the Commissioner
of Labor shall have the power to investigate and prescribe that
reasonable safety devices, safeguards, or other means of protection
be adopted for the prevention of accidents in every employment or
place of employment, and to make, modify, repeal, and enforce
reasonable general orders, applicable to either employers or
employees, or both, for the prevention of accidents.
All orders of the Commissioner of Labor shall be prima facie lawful and reasonable, and shall not be held invalid because of any
technical omission, provided there is substantial compliance with
the provisions of this chapter.
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