CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT
HOUSE BILL 1355
52nd Legislature
1991 Regular Session
Passed by the House March 12, 1991
Yeas 98 Nays 0
Speaker of the
House of Representatives
Passed by the Senate April 15, 1991
Yeas 48 Nays 0
President of the Senate
Approved Place Style On Codes above, and Style Off Codes below.
Governor of the State of Washington
CERTIFICATE
I, Alan Thompson, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is HOUSE BILL 1355 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth.
Chief Clerk
FILED
Secretary of State
State of Washington
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HOUSE BILL 1355
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Passed Legislature - 1991 Regular Session
State of Washington 52nd Legislature 1991 Regular Session
By Representatives R. King, Jones, Cole and Wang; by request of Department of Labor & Industries.
Read first time January 28, 1991. Referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.
AN ACT Relating to civil penalties for industrial safety and health violations; amending RCW 49.17.180; and prescribing penalties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 49.17.180 and 1986 c 20 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
(1)
Any employer who willfully or repeatedly violates the requirements of
RCW 49.17.060, of any safety or health standard promulgated under the authority
of this chapter, of any existing rule or regulation governing the conditions of
employment promulgated by the department, or of any order issued granting a
variance under RCW 49.17.080 or 49.17.090 may be assessed a civil penalty not
to exceed ((fifty)) seventy thousand dollars for each violation.
A minimum penalty of five thousand dollars shall be assessed for a willful
violation.
(2)
Any employer who has received a citation for a serious violation of the
requirements of RCW 49.17.060, of any safety or health standard promulgated
under the authority of this chapter, of any existing rule or regulation
governing the conditions of employment promulgated by the department, or of any
order issued granting a variance under RCW 49.17.080 or 49.17.090 as determined
in accordance with subsection (6) of this section, shall be assessed a civil
penalty not to exceed ((five)) seven thousand dollars for each
such violation.
(3)
Any employer who has received a citation for a violation of the requirements of
RCW 49.17.060, of any safety or health standard promulgated under this chapter,
of any existing rule or regulation governing the conditions of employment
promulgated by the department, or of any order issued granting a variance under
RCW 49.17.080 or 49.17.090, where such violation is specifically determined not
to be of a serious nature as provided in subsection (6) of this section, may be
assessed a civil penalty not to exceed ((three)) seven thousand
dollars for each such violation, unless such violation is determined to be de
minimis.
(4)
Any employer who fails to correct a violation for which a citation has been
issued under RCW 49.17.120 or 49.17.130 within the period permitted for its
correction, which period shall not begin to run until the date of the final
order of the board of industrial insurance appeals in the case of any review
proceedings under this chapter initiated by the employer in good faith and not
solely for delay or avoidance of penalties, may be assessed a civil penalty of
not more than ((five)) seven thousand dollars for each day during
which such failure or violation continues.
(5)
Any employer who violates any of the posting requirements of this chapter, or
any of the posting requirements of rules promulgated by the department pursuant
to this chapter related to employee or employee representative's rights to
notice, including but not limited to those employee rights to notice set forth
in RCW 49.17.080, 49.17.090, 49.17.120, 49.17.130, 49.17.220(1) and
49.17.240(2), shall be assessed a penalty not to exceed ((three)) seven
thousand dollars for each such violation. Any employer who violates any of the
posting requirements for the posting of informational, educational, or training
materials under the authority of RCW 49.17.050(7), may be assessed a penalty
not to exceed ((one)) seven thousand ((five hundred))
dollars for each such violation.
(6) For the purposes of this section, a serious violation shall be deemed to exist in a work place if there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a condition which exists, or from one or more practices, means, methods, operations, or processes which have been adopted or are in use in such work place, unless the employer did not, and could not with the exercise of reasonable diligence, know of the presence of the violation.
(7) The director, or his authorized representatives, shall have authority to assess all civil penalties provided in this section, giving due consideration to the appropriateness of the penalty with respect to the number of affected employees of the employer being charged, the gravity of the violation, the size of the employer's business, the good faith of the employer, and the history of previous violations.
(8) Civil penalties imposed under this chapter shall be paid to the director for deposit in the supplemental pension fund established by RCW 51.44.033. Civil penalties may be recovered in a civil action in the name of the department brought in the superior court of the county where the violation is alleged to have occurred, or the department may utilize the procedures for collection of civil penalties as set forth in RCW 51.48.120 through 51.48.150.