1725-S AMH VANC H2548.1
SHB 1725 - H AMD 298 Withdrawn 3-20-91
By Representative Vance
Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:
"NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature acknowledges that the workplace environment may expose individuals to substances that may cause birth defects or constitute a hazard to an employee's reproductive system or to a fetus. Therefore, employers should disclose information to employees about workplace exposure to chemical or physical substances or workplace conditions that may cause birth defects or harm an individual's reproductive capacity. The legislature further finds that discrimination in the workplace because of reproductive status is an increasing concern. Information about workplace reproductive hazards is needed to assist in individual, corporate, and government decision making."
"Sec. 2. RCW 49.17.050 and 1973 c 80 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:
In
the adoption of rules ((and regulations)) under the authority of this
chapter, the director shall:
(1)
Provide for the preparation, adoption, amendment, or repeal of rules ((and
regulations)) of safety and health standards governing the conditions of
employment of general and special application in all work places;
(2) Provide for the adoption of occupational health and safety standards which are at least as effective as those adopted or recognized by the United States secretary of labor under the authority of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (Public Law 91-596; 84 Stat. 1590);
(3) Provide a method of encouraging employers and employees in their efforts to reduce the number of safety and health hazards at their work places and to stimulate employers and employees to institute new and to perfect existing programs for providing safe and healthful working conditions;
(4) Provide for the promulgation of health and safety standards and the control of conditions in all work places concerning gases, vapors, dust, or other airborne particles, toxic materials, or harmful physical agents which shall set a standard which most adequately assures, to the extent feasible, on the basis of the best available evidence, that no employee will suffer material impairment of health or functional capacity even if such employee has regular exposure to the hazard dealt with by such standard for the period of his or her working life; any such standards shall require where appropriate the use of protective devices or equipment and for monitoring or measuring any such gases, vapors, dust, or other airborne particles, toxic materials, or harmful physical agents;
(5) Provide for appropriate reporting procedures by employers with respect to such information relating to conditions of employment which will assist in achieving the objectives of this chapter;
(6)
Provide for the frequency, method, and manner of the making of inspections of
work places without advance notice; ((and,))
(7) Provide for the publication and dissemination to employers, employees, and labor organizations and the posting where appropriate by employers of informational, education, or training materials calculated to aid and assist in achieving the objectives of this chapter;
(8)
Provide for the establishment of new and the perfection and expansion of
existing programs for occupational safety and health education for employers
and employees, and, in addition institute methods and procedures for the establishment
of a program for voluntary compliance solely through the use of advice and
consultation with employers and employees with recommendations including
recommendations of methods to abate violations relating to the requirements of
this chapter and all applicable safety and health standards and rules ((and
regulations)) promulgated pursuant to the authority of this chapter;
(9) Provide for the adoption of safety and health standards requiring the use of safeguards in trenches and excavations and around openings of hoistways, hatchways, elevators, stairways, and similar openings;
(10) Provide for the promulgation of health and safety standards requiring the use of safeguards for all vats, pans, trimmers, cut off, gang edger, and other saws, planers, presses, formers, cogs, gearing, belting, shafting, coupling, set screws, live rollers, conveyors, mangles in laundries, and machinery of similar description, which can be effectively guarded with due regard to the ordinary use of such machinery and appliances and the danger to employees therefrom, and with which the employees of any such work place may come in contact while in the performance of their duties and prescribe methods, practices, or processes to be followed by employers which will enhance the health and safety of employees in the performance of their duties when in proximity to machinery or appliances mentioned in this subsection;
(11) Provide for the adoption of health and safety standards addressing employee exposure to chemical, biological, or physical reproductive hazards or hazards to a fetus, which shall set a standard that most adequately assures, to the extent feasible, on the basis of the best available evidence, that no employee or fetus will suffer material impairment of health or functional capacity even if the employee has regular exposure to the hazard dealt with by the standard for the period of his or her working life. The standards shall include, but not be limited to, requirements for informing employees and prospective employees of these hazards. In adopting rules under this subsection, the department shall consult with a scientific advisory committee appointed by the department. An employer may request the department to identify all hazards in the employer's workplace that pose a hazard under this subsection, and the employer may rely on the information provided by the department in complying with the rules adopted under this subsection."
"NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 49.44 RCW to read as follows:
(1) No employer, including the state or any political subdivision thereof, may condition the employment, transfer, or promotion of any individual on the sterilization of that individual, nor shall reproductive status be a criterion of employment. An employer may not terminate the employment of an employee because the employee refuses, on request of the employer, to submit to compulsory sterilization after exposure to a reproductive hazard.
(2) No employer, employment agency, or agent of either may request or require information from an employee or prospective employee relating to the individual's child-bearing age or plans, pregnancy, or function of the individual's reproductive system."
"NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 18.76 RCW to read as follows:
The state poison control network centers shall include information about the reproductive hazards of the substances for which the center provides information."
"NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. A new section is added to chapter 4.24 RCW to read as follows:
An employer is not liable for civil damages to any employee, employee's child, or employee's spouse for injury to the employee, the employee's fetus, or the employee's child because of exposure in the workplace to substances or conditions that cause birth defects or constitute a hazard to the employee's reproductive system or capacity if, in full compliance with rules adopted by the department of labor and industries under RCW 49.17.050(11), the employer has informed the employee of the hazard or potential hazard of the substances or conditions. This section shall apply without regard to any determination of coverage under Title 51 RCW."
SHB 1725 - H AMD
By Representative Vance
On page 1, line 2 of the title, after "workplace;" strike the remainder of the title and insert "amending RCW 49.17.050; adding a new section to chapter 49.44 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 18.76 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 4.24 RCW; and creating a new section."