California Assembly Bill AB2774 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 2774AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 14, 2010 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 8, 2010 INTRODUCED BY Committee on Labor and Employment (Swanson (Chair), Furutani, Monning, and Yamada) MARCH 1, 2010 An act to amend Section  6325   6302  of the Labor Code, relating to employment. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2774, as amended, Committee on Labor and Employment. Occupational safety and health.  Existing law authorizes the Department of Occupational Safety and Health to enforce health and safety standards in places of employment and to investigate and to issue a citation when an employer causes an employee to suffer or potentially suffer, among other things, "serious injury or illness" or "serious physical harm." Existing law defines a "serious injury or illness," generally, as a workplace injury or illness requiring hospitalization of more than 24 hours or resulting in the loss of a body member or in permanent disfigurement.   This bill would define "serious physical harm" to include most categories of a "serious injury or illness," but would also include those resulting in physical impairment of a part of the body or from the cumulative effect of multiple injuries or illnesses.   Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, establishes enforcement procedures for the requirements related to safe and healthful working conditions for Californians. The Division of Occupational Safety and Health of the Department of Industrial Relations is charged with enforcing occupational health and safety laws, orders, and standards, including the investigation of alleged violations of those provisions.   Existing law requires the division, when it decides that a place of employment, machine, device, apparatus, or equipment constitutes an imminent hazard to employees, to prohibit entry to the workplace or use of the machine, device, apparatus, or equipment.   This bill would specify that a place of employment may be deemed dangerous because a particular machine, device, apparatus, or piece of equipment, as well as a condition or practice in a place of employment, constitutes an imminent hazard to employees.  Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  yes   no  . State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:  SECTION 1.   Section 6302 of the   Labor Code   is ame   nded to read:  6302. As used in this division: (a) "Director" means the Director of Industrial Relations. (b) "Department" means the Department of Industrial Relations. (c) "Insurer" includes the State Compensation Insurance Fund and any private company, corporation, mutual association, and reciprocal or interinsurance exchange, authorized under the laws of this state to insure employers against liability for compensation under this part and under Division 4 (commencing with Section 3201), and any employer to whom a certificate of consent to self-insure has been issued. (d) "Division" means the Division of Occupational Safety and Health. (e) "Standards board" means the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, within the department. (f) "Appeals board" means the Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board, within the department. (g) "Aquaculture" means a form of agriculture as defined in Section 17 of the Fish and Game Code. (h) "Serious injury or illness" means any injury or illness occurring in a place of employment or in connection with any employment which requires inpatient hospitalization for a period in excess of 24 hours for other than medical observation or in which an employee suffers a loss of any member of the body or suffers any serious degree of permanent disfigurement, but does not include any injury or illness or death caused by the commission of a Penal Code violation, except the violation of Section 385 of the Penal Code, or an accident on a public street or highway. (i) "Serious exposure" means any exposure of an employee to a hazardous substance when the exposure occurs as a result of an incident, accident, emergency, or exposure over time and is in a degree or amount sufficient to create a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm in the future could result from the exposure.  (j) (1) "Serious physical harm" means any injury or illness, specific or cumulative, occurring in the place or employment or in connection with any employment, which is the consequence of a condition, practice, means, method, operation, or process that meets any of the following:   (A) Requires inpatient hospitalization for a period in excess of 24 hours for other than medical observation.   (B) Causes an employee to suffer the loss of any member of the body.   (C) Causes an employee to suffer any serious degree of permanent disfigurement.   (D) Could reasonably lead to impairment of a part of the body by substantially reducing its efficiency on or off the job for more than 24 hours.   (2) A single condition, practice, means, method, operation, or process can be properly classified as resulting in "serious physical harm."   SECTION 1.   Section 6325 of the Labor Code is amended to read: 6325. When, in the opinion of the division, a place of employment is dangerous to employees because of a condition or practice, or because a machine, device, apparatus, or piece of equipment or any part thereof is in a dangerous condition, is not properly guarded, or is dangerously placed so that the condition or practice of the workplace or the machine, device, apparatus, or piece of equipment constitutes an imminent hazard to employees, entry therein, or the use thereof, as the case may be, shall be prohibited by the division, and a conspicuous notice to that effect shall be attached thereto. The prohibition of use shall be limited to the immediate area in which the imminent hazard exists, and the division shall not prohibit any entry in or use of a place of employment, machine, device, apparatus, or piece of equipment, or any part thereof, which is outside the area of imminent hazard. The notice shall not be removed except by an authorized representative of the division, nor until the place of employment, machine, device, apparatus, or equipment is made safe and the required safeguards or safety appliances or devices are provided. This section shall not prevent the entry or use with the division's knowledge and permission for the sole purpose of eliminating the dangerous conditions.