S-3807.2  _______________________________________________

                         SENATE BILL 6384

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      54th Legislature     1996 Regular Session

By Senator Rasmussen

Read first time 01/12/96.  Referred to Committee on Labor, Commerce & Trade.

Providing penalties for employers who have notice of conditions or practices contributing to occupational disease.

    AN ACT Relating to occupational disease; adding new sections to chapter 51.28 RCW; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 51.28 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) An occupational disease claim shall be presumed to arise naturally and proximately out of employment and the employer has the burden of proving that an unsafe condition or practice at a workplace did not contribute to the claimed occupational disease if the following occur:

    (a) A worker notifies the employer of an unsafe condition or practice that might result in an occupational disease;

    (b) A worker files an occupational disease claim alleging that an occupational disease resulted from the unsafe condition or practice after it was reported to the employer and before the employer investigated and corrected the condition or practice; and

    (c) A physician has certified that the claimant has an occupational disease that, more likely than not, arose from the unsafe condition or practice reported to the employer.

    (2) If a worker notifies an employer of an unsafe condition or practice that might result in an occupational disease, the employer shall investigate and correct the condition or practice.  Failure to respond within a reasonable time to the notice subjects an employer to a penalty determined by the director, but not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars for each offense, to be collected in a civil action in the name of the department and paid into the supplemental pension fund.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 51.28 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) The department shall adopt rules to implement section 1 of this act.

    (2) In making rules to determine a reasonable response time for purposes of section 1(2) of this act, the department shall consider:  (a) The potential for harm from the condition or practice; (b) the number of people affected by the condition or practice; and (c) the ease of correcting the condition or practice.

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