SB1683 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB099 10179 SXM 30403 b

99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2015 and 2016
SB1683

Introduced 2/20/2015, by Sen. Thomas Cullerton

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

820 ILCS 219/55
820 ILCS 219/65

Amends the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Provides that the Director of Labor shall adopt rules necessary to implement the Act, including, but not limited to, rules dealing with the inspection of an employer's establishment. Authorizes the Director to require the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of evidence under oath during inspections and investigations. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning employment.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Occupational Safety and Health Act is amended by changing Sections 55 and 65 as follows:

(820 ILCS 219/55)

Sec. 55. Rules generally.

(a) The Director, from time to time, shall promulgate rules that clearly describe the persons to whom those rules apply and that clearly describe the conduct that is required of those persons. Each such rule shall, by its terms, be uniform and general in its application wherever the subject matter of the rule exists in any workplace having employees in the service of a public employer. The rules may include rules that, when applicable to products which are distributed or used in interstate commerce, are required by compelling local conditions and do not unduly burden interstate commerce.

(b) Any standards or rules promulgated by the Director under the Safety Inspection and Education Act or the Health and Safety Act that are in full force on the effective date of this Act shall become the rules of the Department under this Act. This Act does not affect the legality of any such rules in the Illinois Administrative Code.

(c) Any proposed standards or rules filed with the Secretary of State by the Director under the Safety Inspection and Education Act or the Health and Safety Act that are pending in the rulemaking process on the effective date of this Act shall be deemed to have been filed by the Director under this Act.

(d) As soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act, the Director shall revise and clarify the standards or rules described in subsections (b) and (c) as necessary to reflect the provisions of this Act.

(e) The Director of Labor shall adopt such rules as he or she may deem necessary to implement the provisions of this Act, including, but not limited to, rules dealing with the inspection of an employer's establishment.

(Source: P.A. 98-874, eff. 1-1-15.)

(820 ILCS 219/65)

Sec. 65. Periodic inspection of workplaces.

(a) The Director shall enforce the occupational safety and health standards and rules promulgated under this Act and any occupational health and safety regulations relating to inspection of places of employment, and shall visit and inspect, as often as practicable, the places of employment covered by this Act.

(b) The Director or his or her authorized representative, upon presenting appropriate credentials to a public employer's agent in charge, has the right to enter and inspect all places of employment covered by this Act as follows:

(1) An inspector may enter without delay and at reasonable times any establishment, construction site, or other area, workplace, or environment where work is performed by an employee of a public employer in order to enforce the occupational safety and health standards adopted under this Act.

(2) If a public employer refuses entry to an inspector upon being presented with proper credentials or allows entry but then refuses to permit or hinders the inspection in any way, the inspector shall leave the premises and immediately report the refusal to authorized management within the Division. Authorized management shall notify the Director to initiate the compulsory legal process to obtain entry or obtain a warrant for entry, or both.

(3) An inspector may inspect and investigate during regular working hours and at other reasonable times, and within reasonable limits and in a reasonable manner, any workplace described in paragraph (1) and all pertinent conditions, structures, machines, apparatus, devices, equipment, and materials therein, and to question privately the employer or any agent or employee of the employer.

(4) The owner, operator, manager, or lessee of any workplace covered by this Act, and his or her agent or employee, and any employer affected by this Act shall, when requested by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health or any duly authorized agent of that Division: (i) furnish any information in his or her possession or under his or her control which the Department is authorized to require, (ii) answer truthfully all questions required to be put to him or her, and (iii) cooperate in the making of a proper inspection.

(c) In making his or her inspection and investigations under this Act, the Director of Labor has the power to require the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of evidence under oath.

(Source: P.A. 98-874, eff. 1-1-15.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.