Senate Bill No. 459
(By Senator Caruth)
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[Introduced Marcy 5, 2009; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §22A-6-11, relating
to requiring the Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety to
perform a risk assessment of current safety standards;
identifying problematic safety areas where current resources
could be used to maximum benefit; and proposing rules for
review and approval by the Legislature.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §22A-6-11, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 6. BOARD OF COAL MINE HEALTH AND SAFETY.
§22A-6-11. Risk assessment; promulgation of rules.
(a) The Legislature finds that while substantial gains in mine
safety have been made during the recent past, additional work is necessary to further increase miner safety and to maximize current
resources. Therefore, the board is directed to perform a thorough
risk management assessment of the current health and safety
programs with particular attention being paid to identifying
specific problem areas where current resources could be directed
for maximum benefit. The board shall also focus its assessment on
training standards, technical assistance, the management of risk
and emergency operations.
(b) The board shall submit its proposed rules necessary to
implement the requirement of subsection (a) of this section to the
Legislature for review and approval by December 1, 2009.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the Board of Coal
Mine Health and Safety to perform a risk assessment of current
safety standards, identify problematic safety areas and submit
proposed rules for review and approval to the Legislature by
December 1, 2009.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.