EXPEDITED RULES
LABOR AND INDUSTRIES
Title of Rule: WAC 296-24-125 Temporary labor camps, chapter 296-833 WAC, Temporary housing for workers.
Purpose: Changes to chapter 296-24 WAC, General safety and health standards for temporary labor camps.
The temporary labor camps rule is being rewritten and reorganized for clarity and ease of use for employers and employees. We are proposing to repeal the temporary labor camps rule from chapter 296-24 WAC and proposing it as a new chapter 296-833 WAC. No new requirements have been added.
Repealed Sections:
WAC 296-24-125 Scope and application.
| The requirements in this section have been moved to WAC 296-833-100. |
| This section will be repealed. |
| The requirements in this section have been moved to WAC 296-833-12501. |
| This section will be repealed. |
| The requirements in this section have been moved to WAC 296-833-12503. |
| This section will be repealed. |
| The requirements in this section have been moved to WAC 296-833-12504. |
| This section will be repealed. |
| The requirements in this section have been moved to WAC 296-833-12505. |
| This section will be repealed. |
| The requirements in this section have been moved to WAC 296-833-12507. |
| This section will be repealed. |
| The requirements in this section have been moved to WAC 296-833-12509. |
| This section will be repealed. |
| The requirements in this section have been moved to WAC 296-833-12511. |
| This section will be repealed. |
| The requirements in this section have been moved to WAC 296-833-12513. |
| This section will be repealed. |
| The requirements in this section have been moved to WAC 296-833-12515. |
| This section will be repealed. |
| The requirements in this section have been moved to WAC 296-833-12517. |
| This section will be repealed. |
| The requirements in this section have been moved to WAC 296-833-12519. |
| This section will be repealed. |
| The requirements in this section have been moved to WAC 296-833-12521. |
| This section will be repealed. |
| The requirements in this section have been moved to WAC 296-833-12523. |
| This section will be repealed. |
WAC 296-833-100 Scope.
| The information relating to the scope and application of this rule have been moved to this section. |
| The responsibility statement to the employer has been moved to this section. |
| Requirements relating to placement and construction of shelters were moved to this section. |
| Moved requirements relating to the grounds of the temporary housing area. |
| Moved requirements relating to construction. |
| Requirements relating to utilities provided by the employer have been moved to this section. |
| Moved requirements relating to electricity and lighting. |
| Moved requirements relating to water. |
| Moved requirements relating to toilets. |
| Moved requirements relating to sewage. |
| Requirements relating to providing of service facilities have been moved to this section. |
| Moved requirements relating to laundry, handwashing and bathing facilities. |
| Moved requirements relating to cooking/food handling facilities. |
| Requirements relating to waste disposal and pest control have been moved to this section. |
| Moved requirements relating to waste disposal. |
| Moved requirements relating to insects and rodents. |
| Requirements relating to providing first aid facilities and reporting communicable disease have been moved to this section. |
| Moved requirements relating to first aid. |
| Moved requirements relating to communicable diseases. |
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 49.17.010, [49.17].040, [49.17].050, [49.17].060.
Statute Being Implemented: Chapter 49.17 RCW.
Summary: This rule making is part of our four-year plan to rewrite for clarity all of chapters 296-24 and 296-62 WAC. The rule language is being clarified to make understanding and application easier. Unnecessary and bureaucratic terminology will be eliminated.
Reasons Supporting Proposal: See Summary above.
Name of Agency Personnel Responsible for Drafting: Tracy Spencer, Tumwater, (360) 902-5530; Implementation and Enforcement: Michael A. Silverstein, Tumwater, (360) 902-5495.
Name of Proponent: Department of Labor and Industries, governmental.
Rule is not necessitated by federal law, federal or state court decision.
Explanation of Rule, its Purpose, and Anticipated Effects: The temporary housing for workers rule applies to employers who chose to provide housing for their temporary workers. As part of our four-year plan to rewrite chapters 296-24 and 296-62 WAC for clarity and ease of use, the temporary labor camps rule has been rewritten and will be repealed from chapter 296-24 WAC and assigned an 800 series number, chapter 296-833 WAC. The language has been clarified and made easier to understand, with unnecessary and outdated terminology eliminated. There was no increase in requirements; no effects of this rule making are anticipated.
Proposal does not change existing rules.
THIS RULE IS BEING PROPOSED UNDER AN EXPEDITED RULE-MAKING PROCESS THAT WILL ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR THE AGENCY TO HOLD PUBLIC HEARINGS, PREPARE A SMALL BUSINESS ECONOMIC IMPACT STATEMENT, OR PROVIDE RESPONSES TO THE CRITERIA FOR A SIGNIFICANT LEGISLATIVE RULE. IF YOU OBJECT TO THE USE OF THE EXPEDITED RULE-MAKING PROCESS, YOU MUST EXPRESS YOUR OBJECTIONS IN WRITING AND THEY MUST BE SENT TO Carmen Moore, Department of Labor and Industries, P.O. Box 44001, Olympia, WA 98504-4001 , AND RECEIVED BY October 21, 2002.
August 7, 2002
Gary Moore
Director
OTS-5893.1
REPEALER
The following sections of the Washington Administrative Code are repealed:
WAC 296-24-125 | Temporary labor camps. |
WAC 296-24-12501 | What requirements apply to camp sites? |
WAC 296-24-12503 | How must camp shelters be constructed? |
WAC 296-24-12504 | What electricity must be provided for temporary labor camps? |
WAC 296-24-12505 | What requirements apply to the water supply? |
WAC 296-24-12507 | Must an employer provide toilet facilities for the camp? |
WAC 296-24-12509 | Must sewer lines connect to public sewers? |
WAC 296-24-12511 | What facilities must an employer provide for laundry, handwashing, and bathing? |
WAC 296-24-12513 | What lighting must an employer provide for camp buildings? |
WAC 296-24-12515 | What requirements apply to refuse disposal? |
WAC 296-24-12517 | What cooking and food-handling facilities must be provided in temporary labor camps? |
WAC 296-24-12519 | Must an employer provide insect and rodent control? |
WAC 296-24-12521 | What first-aid facilities must be available in the camp? |
WAC 296-24-12523 | When must an employer report communicable diseases in a camp? |
OTS-5847.2
TEMPORARY HOUSING FOR WORKERS
Exemption:
This rule does not apply to the agriculture industry.
For agriculture employers, see WAC 296-307-161, Temporary worker housing, and WAC 296-307-163, Cherry harvest camps.
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Your responsibility:
If you choose to provide temporary housing for workers, or require them to live on the grounds in housing they provide themselves, you must make sure the housing facilities meet the requirements of this rule.
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Summary.
Your responsibility:
To provide and maintain safe and healthful housing for your temporary workers.
You must:
Provide and maintain sufficient grounds and open areas in temporary housing sites
Follow these design and equipment requirements for shelters
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You must:
(1) Make sure that all temporary housing sites:
Are adequately drained and are free from ground depressions in which water may accumulate
Have no history of flooding
Do not endanger any domestic or public water supply with their drainage
Are located at least two hundred feet from a swamp, pool, sink hole, or other surface collection of water unless the water surface can be treated for mosquito control.
(2) Make sure the housing area is large enough to prevent the buildings from being crowded too closely together.
(3) Make sure the principal housing areas for sleeping and food preparation/eating are at least five hundred feet from livestock operations.
Note: | Livestock operations include, among other things, dairy farms, corrals, slaughterhouses, feedlots, and stockyards. Operations where livestock can roam on a pasture over a distance may be treated as outside the definition. |
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You must:
(1) Make sure that every shelter in the camp provides protection against the elements.
(2) Make sure each dwelling unit:
Has at least seventy square feet of floor space for the first occupant and at least fifty square feet of floor space for each additional occupant
That is designated a family unit has a separate sleeping area for children over six years old
With designated sleeping room(s) has at least fifty square feet of floor space in the sleeping room for each occupant
Has at least a seven-foot ceiling
Has windows:
Covering a total area equal to at least one-tenth of the floor area
AND
At least one-half of which can be opened for ventilation
Has each exterior opening screened with 16-mesh material
Has screen doors with self-closing devices.
(3) Make sure that the floors of each shelter are constructed of wood, asphalt, or concrete.
Floors must be kept in good repair
If wooden floors are used, they must be:
Elevated one foot above ground level at all points to prevent dampness and to permit free air circulation
Smooth and tight.
Note: | You may "bank" around outside walls with earth or other suitable material to guard against extreme low temperatures. |
Beds must be at least thirty-six inches away from other beds, both side to side and end to end
The frame of the bed must keep mattresses at least twelve inches off the floor
Double-deck bunks must be spaced at least forty-eight inches away from other beds, both side to side and end to end
The minimum clear space between lower and upper bunks must be at least twenty-seven inches
Triple-deck bunks are not allowed.
(5) Provide equipment that adequately heats the living area whenever the camp is used during cold weather.
Note: | All heating, cooking, and water heating equipment must meet state and local ordinances, codes, and regulations concerning installation. |
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Summary.
Your responsibility:
To provide utilities to your temporary housing camps.
You must:
Provide electricity and lighting to temporary housing areas
Provide adequate water
Provide toilet facilities
Follow local regulations for sewage disposal
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You must:
(1) Supply electricity to all:
Dwelling units
Kitchen facilities
Shower/bathroom facilities
Common areas
Laundry facilities.
Reference:
You need to follow additional requirements for electricity and lighting. See WAC 296-800-280, Basic electrical rules, in the safety and health core rules book for more information.
(2) Provide lighting to camp buildings.
Make sure general lighting and task lighting are adequate for normal daily activities
Make sure living quarters have:
One ceiling-type light fixture
AND
One separate floor or wall convenience outlet.
Make sure laundry rooms, toilet rooms, and other common areas have at least:
One ceiling light fixture
OR
A wall light fixture.
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You must:
Provide a water supply that is adequate and convenient for:
Drinking
Cooking
Bathing
Laundry purposes.
Make sure the water supply system is:
Capable of delivering
&sqbul; Thirty-five gallons per person per day to the campsite
&sqbul; At a peak rate of two and one-half times the average hourly demand
Able to supply water to all fixtures at the same time with normal operating pressures
Approved by the appropriate health authority
Supply water to each housing area by either:
Piping water directly to the shelters
Providing yard hydrants within one hundred feet of the shelters
Prohibit common drinking cups
Provide one or more drinking fountain(s) for each one hundred occupants (or fraction of that number) where water under pressure is available.
Reference:
The construction of drinking fountains must comply with ANSI standard Specifications for Drinking Fountains, Z4.2.1942.
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Note: | For the purposes of this rule, a restroom is a room maintained on the premises for use by employees that contains a toilet. This includes outhouses. |
(1) Provide enough toilets for the camp's capacity.
Toilets and outhouses must be provided in a ratio of one for every fifteen people, with a minimum of two units for any facility shared by men and women.
Note: | Check with your local jurisdictions for regulations regarding outhouses. |
(3) Provide separate rest rooms for each sex wherever rest rooms are in buildings shared by men and women.
Distinctly mark the rooms "men" and "women" with:
Signs printed in English and in the native language of the persons occupying the camp
OR
Easily understood pictures or symbols.
If the facilities for each sex are in the same building, they must be separated by:
Solid walls
OR
Partitions extending from the floor to the roof or ceiling.
(4) Make sure:
No one has to pass through a sleeping room to reach a rest room
Rest rooms have a window of at least six square feet opening directly to the outside, or are satisfactorily ventilated
All outside openings are screened with 16-mesh material
Fixtures, toilets, chemical toilets, or urinals are not located in a room used for other than toilet purposes
A rest room is within two hundred feet of the door of each sleeping room
Any outhouse is at least one hundred feet away from any sleeping room, dining room, lunch area, or kitchen.
(5) Provide urinals as follows:
One urinal or two linear feet of urinal trough for each twenty-five men
Construct the floor out of materials that are moisture proof, from the wall and out at least fifteen inches from the outer edge of the urinals
Have an adequate water flush in urinals when water under pressure is available
Urinal troughs in outhouses must:
Drain freely into the pit or vault
AND
Have a drain constructed to exclude flies and rodents from the pit.
(6) Install any new toilets in a rest room.
(7) Make sure:
There is an adequate supply of toilet paper for each rest room, outhouse, or chemical toilet
Toilet facilities are:
Kept in sanitary condition
AND
Cleaned at least daily.
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You must:
Provide sewage disposal systems according to local health jurisdictions.
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Summary.
Your responsibility:
To provide facilities for your employees to cook, eat, do laundry, bathe, and wash their hands.
You must:
Provide service buildings for laundry, handwashing and bathing
Provide cooking, food-handling, and dining facilities
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You must:
(1) Make sure that every service building has equipment capable of maintaining a room temperature of at least seventy degrees Fahrenheit.
(2) Make sure an adequate supply of hot and cold running water is provided for bathing and laundry purposes.
(3) Provide:
One handwash basin
Per family shelter
OR
Per six persons in shared facilities
One shower head for every ten persons
One laundry tray or tub for every thirty persons
One "deepwell" type sink in each building used for laundry, handwashing, and bathing.
(4) Make sure all:
Laundry, handwashing and bathing room floors:
Are moisture-resistant and smooth but not slippery
Have coved junctions of the curbing and the floor
Walls and partitions of shower rooms are smooth and moisture-resistant to the height where water splashes.
Shower baths, shower rooms, or laundry rooms have floor drains to remove wastewater and facilitate cleaning.
(5) Provide facilities for drying clothes.
(6) Keep all service buildings clean.
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You must:
(1) Make sure common cooking and dining areas are of adequate size and are separated from sleeping areas by a door.
(2) Provide enclosed and screened cooking and food-handling facilities for all occupants. The facilities must include:
A working cook stove or hot plate with at least one cooking surface for every two occupants
A sink with hot and cold running potable water under pressure
Food storage areas located off the floor
Nonabsorbent, easily cleanable food preparation counters
Mechanical refrigeration capable of maintaining a temperature of forty-five degrees Fahrenheit or below, with enough space to store perishable food items for all occupants
Fire-resistant, nonabsorbent, nonasbestos, and easily cleanable wall coverings close to cooking areas
Nonabsorbent, easily cleanable floors
At least one ceiling or wall light fixture
Lighting adequate for normal food preparation activities
Adequate ventilation for cooking facilities.
(3) Make sure that dining halls:
Meet the requirements of the department of health's rules in chapter 246-215 WAC, Food service
Have no direct openings to living or sleeping areas
Have fire-resistant, nonabsorbent, nonasbestos, and easy-to-clean wall coverings adjacent to cooking areas
Have nonabsorbent, easy-to-clean floors
Have at least one ceiling or wall light fixture
Have lighting adequate for normal dining activities.
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Summary.
Your responsibility:
To make sure your temporary housing camps are kept sanitary.
You must:
Follow proper waste disposal procedures
Control insects, rodents, and other pests
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Provide at least one garbage container for each family shelter. Garbage containers must be:
Placed on a wooden, metal, or concrete pad
AND
Located within one hundred feet of each shelter.
Provide garbage containers that:
Are nonabsorbent
Are cleanable OR only used once (for example, a disposable plastic liner)
Can be securely closed.
Make sure garbage containers are kept clean and emptied: At least twice a week
AND
When full.
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You must:
Take steps to effectively prevent insects, rodents, and other pests from infesting camp areas
Carry out a continuing and effective control program where pests have been detected.
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Summary.
Your responsibility:
To guard the general health of your employees by providing first-aid facilities and reporting communicable diseases.
You must:
Provide first-aid facilities
Report communicable diseases
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You must:
Provide and maintain adequate first-aid facilities
AND
Make sure a person trained in first aid is in charge of the first-aid facilities.
Reference:
See WAC 296-800-150, First aid, in the core rules book for requirements for first-aid training and supplies.
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You must:
Immediately report to the local health officer:
The name and address of any individual in the camp known to or suspected of having a communicable disease listed in the department of health's list of notifiable conditions, chapter 246-101 WAC
Any suspected food poisoning
Any unusual occurrence of:
Fever
Diarrhea
Sore throat
Vomiting
Jaundice.
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