Section 94-3591. Requires oil and gas companies or refineries to provide an employee handling crude oil and gas, where there is danger of suffocation, with a standard gas mask in good working condition for immediate use. Penalty for violation. NEBRASKA SOURCES: Revised Statutes of Nebraska 1943, as reissued Rules and Regulations of State Agencies STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH Authority and Functions Revised Statutes of Nebraska 1943, Section 71-502. Contagious diseases; rules and regulations; quarantine; powers of Department of Health; violation; penalty. "The department of health shall have supervision and control of all matters relating to necessary sanitation and quarantine, and shall formulate, adopt and publish such proper and reasonable general rules and regulations as will best serve to promote sanitation . . . and prevent the introduction or spread of disease... the department shall adopt and enforce special quarantine and sanitary regulations such as the occasion and proper protection of the public health may require. . . ." Penalty for violation. General Provisions Relating to Occupational Health None specifically. None. Reporting of Occupational Diseases DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Authority and Functions Section 81-401. Department of Labor, general powers. "The Governor, through the agency of the department of labor created by Sec. 81-101, shall have power: 1. To foster, promote and develop the welfare of wage earners; 2. To improve working conditions. .. 4. To collect, collate . . . statistical details relating to all departments of labor. . . . 8. To acquire and diffuse information in relation to the prevention of accidents; occupational disease and other related subjects; 9. To administer and enforce all the provisions of Chapter 48, articles 2, 3, 4 and 5. Section 48-412. Safety appliances; codes and standards. ". . . The department is directed and empowered to formulate, adopt, publish and enforce such safety codes, orders, rules and standards as it deems necessary, in order that all employments . . . shall be, in all respects, so constructed, equipped, arranged, operated and maintained as to provide reasonable and adequate protection to the lives, health and safety of all persons employed therein. . . Section 48-413. Safety codes; commissions to establish, inspections. "The Department of Labor shall . . . create commissions composed of employers, employees, and such other persons as the department may designate, to assist it in formulating, adopting, amending, or repealing such codes, orders, rules and standards... the department may make or cause to be made such investigations and surveys as will assist in the formulation . . . of codes. . .” Section 48-414. Safety codes; enforcement; violation; penalty. "It shall be the duty of the Department of Labor to make periodical inspections of all places of employment for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of such safety codes as have been adopted, and . . . may order the discontinuance of the use or operation of any machine or device. . ." Penalty for operating dangerous device. General Provisions Relating to Occupational Health and Safety Statutory Provisions Sanitation Facilities Section 48-401. Water closets; duty of employer to provide. Requires employers to provide suitable water closets, separate for each sex, and to maintain them in a sanitary condition. Section 48-402. Dressing rooms; duty to provide. Requires provision of dressing rooms in factories, mills, or workshops, mercantile or mechanical establishments or other places where character of work requires employee to change clothing after work. Facilities for female employees shall be separate. Ventilation Section 48-403. Ventilation; dust and fumes; fans required. Requires employers to provide fans or other mechanical devices as will substantially carry away all dust or fumes or other impurities, subject to the approval of the Department of Labor. Section 48-404. Sanitation; duty of employer. Requires employers to keep workrooms clean and well ventilated. Dust Removal Sections 48-405 to 48-408. Require operators of factories where grinding machines and wheels are used to equip them with belts, blowers or similar apparatus to carry off the dust, and dust particles; and emery wheels and grindstones with hoods and hoppers, and suction pipes of specified sizes, as prescribed by the Department of Labor. Safety of Workplaces and Equipment Section 48-409. Machinery; safety devices required. Requires employers in plants where machinery is used to provide such guards or appliances as will protect employees against injury from belting, gearing, drums, saws, molten metal, protruding screws, pulleys and other moving parts of machinery. Section 48-410. Revolving machines; screens required. Requires screen guards around laundry extractors or other exposed high speed revolving machinery. Section 48-411. Woodworking machinery; safety devices. Requires safety appliances on all woodworking machinery. Section 48-412. Şafety appliances; codes and standards. Requires that safety appliances prescribed by the preceding sections shall be subject to the approval of the Department of Labor. Section 48-424. Prescribes penalty for violations of sections 48-401 to 48–423. Construction Work * Sections 48-425 to 48-435. Contain safety regulations for workers on scaffolding and building construction work and prescribe penalty for violation. Miscellaneous Section 48-212. Requires provision of at least a 30-minute lunch period for employees in assembling plants, workshops and mercantile establishments, and makes it unlawful for employer to require employees to remain on premises where labor is performed. Penalty for violation. Section 66-101. Requires safety valves on all receptacles manufactured for or used as containers of explosive gases. Penalty for violation. Rules and Regulations Adopted by Department of Labor. 1. Nebraska Safety Codes. Part I. Construction Work. Rules contain safety specifications for workareas, equipment and scaffolds; require the maintenance on the premises of first-aid supplies and means for moving or lowering injured employees; and require the provision of drinking water approved by the Department of Health, and of suitable toilet facilities. Part II. Factories and Workshops. Rules contain safety requirements for railings, stairways, ladders, platforms, cranes, mechanical power transmission apparatus, electrical installations, laundries, for woodworking, metalworking, paper and printing, bakery, meat grinding, and rubber working machinery, and for window washing; specify head and eye protectors suitable for enumerated processes and operations; prescribe requirements for means of egress; and require operations generating vapors, excessive heat, fumes or dust injurious to the health of workers to be ventilated by appropriate mechanical ventilation. 2. Safety Codes Affecting Dry Cleaning and Dry Dyeing Establishments. Effective January 1, 1942. Code provides for issuance of permits for 3 classes of dry cleaning installations, classified according to type of solvent used; prescribes for each class applicable requirements for construction of buildings, ventilation, lighting, power, electrical devices and heating, safeguarding underground storage tanks, and aboveground treatment tanks; and sets forth specifications for equipment, scouring, brushing or spotting operations and fire extinguishment. Employment of Women and Minors Among pertinent provisions are the following: Revised Statutes of Nebraska 1943, Section 48-201. Requires employers of female help to provide seats and to permit their use when duties allow it. Section 48-202. Penalty for violation. Employer is liable in action for damages to any employee whose health has been injured because of failure to provide seats. Sections 48-203 to 48-208. Regulate hours of work for female employees in specified establishments; provide for issuance of permits for employment at other hours and in canneries "only after a careful investigation of the working conditions, from a standpoint of safety, health and general welfare to the employee" by the Commissioner; require posting law; and prescribe penalties for violations. Section 48-301. Prohibits employment of children under 14 in specified establishments and in any place during hours schools are in session. Section 48-302. Regulates employment of children between 14 and 16 in certain establishments or occupations, requiring procurement of employment certificates. Section 48-304. Deals with issuance of employment certificates, and provides that in cases of doubtful health, physical fitness shall be determined by a physician provided by the Department of Labor. Section 48-313. Prohibits employment of children under 16 in any hazardous or dangerous employment, or where health or morals may be impaired. Penalty for violation. Reporting of Injuries Section 48-421. Accidents; reports; contents. "Every person operating a plant where machinery is used, shall report in writing to the Department of Labor all fatal accidents within forty-eight hours after their occurrence, and all other accidents within two weeks after their occurrence. violation. WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION COURT Penalty for The Workmen's Compensation Law is administered by the Workmen's Compensation Court, consisting of three judges. (Sections 48-101 to 48–190) Occupational Disease Compensation Section 48-101. Personal injury to an employee by accident or occupational disease as defined in section 48-151 is compensable. Full coverage. Reporting of Injuries Section 48-144. Requires reports of accidents and settlement to be made by employers or insurance companies to the Compensation Court. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND INSPECTION Section 81-201. The Department of Agriculture and Inspection has jurisdiction over all laws relating to the inspection of foods, drugs, dairy products, and the sanitation of premises used for manufacturing and preparation of foods, cold storage warehouses and other related places. Section 81-2,111. Requires that "Every building occupied or used as a bakery, confectionery, cannery, packing house, slaughterhouse, dairy . . . or other place or apartment used for the preparation for sale, manufacture . . . or distribution of any food, shall be properly lighted, drained, plumbed and ventilated, and conducted with strict regard to the influence of such condition upon the health of the operatives, employees. and the purity and wholesomeness of the food therein produced. . . ." Sections 81-2,112 to 81-2,121. Contain sanitary regulations of places mentioned in the preceding section, covering cleanliness of premises, equipment and operations, provision of toilet rooms and washrooms to be equipped and maintained as specified, prohibition of diseased persons from working in such places, inspections and penalty for violations. Sections 81-2,122 to 81-2,134.09. Deal with sanitary regulation and licensing of cold storage warehouses and frozen food locker plants. STATE RAILWAY COMMISSION State Railway Commission has jurisdiction over railroads and other common carriers. Section 74-703. Requires operators of railroads to furnish adequate tools, appliances or devices to enable its employees to perform their duties in a safe and proper manner. Section 74-905. Regulates construction and safety equipment of caboose cars for safety of employees. Penalty for violation. Sections 74-1122 to 74-1125. Require enclosed vestibules on all street railway cars during certain months to protect employees from inclemencies of weather. Prescribe penalty for violation and provide for prosecution by county attorney. NEVADA SOURCES: Nevada Compiled Laws 1929 Nevada Compiled Laws, Supplement 1941, 1949, 1951 STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH Authority and Functions 1 Nevada Compiled Laws, Supplement 1941, Section 5239. Duties of State Health Officer. "5. The state health officer shall be the executive officer of the state board of health. . . . He shall enforce all laws and regulations pertaining to the public health. He shall investigate causes of diseases . . nuisances affecting the public health, and all other matters related to the health and life of the people, and to this end may enter upon and inspect any public or private property in the state. . . . The state board of health and the state health officer shall comprise the state department of health. . . Section 5259. Powers of State Board of Health-Rules and Regulations, Etc. "The State Board of Health is hereby declared to be supreme in all health matters and it shall have general supervision over all matters relating to the preservation of health and life of citizens . . . shall have the power to adopt, promulgate, amend and enforce reasonable rules and regulations . . . (a) to define and control dangerous communicable diseases, (b) to prevent and control nuisances, (c) to regulate sanitation and sanitary practices in the interests of the public health, (d) to provide for the sanitary protection of water and food supplies. (f) to protect and promote the public health generally. . . . Such rules and regulations shall have the force and effect of law and shall supersede all local ordinances and regulations heretofore or hereafter enacted inconsistent therewith. . . . Section 5260. Divisions in State Department. "... The state board of health may create such other divisions . . . of the state department as may be necessary, and may consolidate, divide, or abolish any division, subdivision, or bureau as deemed necessary." General Provisions Relating to Occupational Health Statutory Provisions Construction Camps NCL 1929, Sections 2816 to 2823. Regulate sanitation of highway construction camps, covering requirements for cleanliness and ventilation of premises, pro 1Additional reference on page 165 (Section 1049). |