PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION

The Public Service Commission administers all laws relating to public utilities and transportation. Among the sections dealing with employee health and safety are the following: (Penalties for violations are prescribed.)

Section 81.40.080. Requires shelters for railroad employees while at work to protect them from rain and other inclement weather.

Sections 81.44.030 to 81.44.040. Require certain safety appliances on locomotives and cars for protection of employees.

Section 81.44.085. Requires common carrier railroads to equip locomotives and cabooses and passenger cars with first-aid kits and sanitary cups and icecooled drinking water.

Section 81.64.140. Requires vestibules or weather guards for protection of employees.

1953 New Laws, Chapter 185. Prohibits attachment to utility poles of signs, posters, vending machines, or other objects which present a hazard to, or endanger the lives of, electrical workers.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Revised Code, Chapter 23. The State Director of Agriculture is empowered to enforce and supervise the administration of laws with respect to the sale and manufacture of food and food products, and to bakeries.

WASHINGTON STATE SAFETY COUNCIL

Chapter 43.60. The Safety Council is established as a division of the executive department. "The council shall study ways and means for prevention of accidents on the streets and highways, in homes, on the farms, at schools, in industrial and commercial plants, and in public places; shall plan and execute safety programs, including educational campaigns, designed to reduce accidents in every field of activity; shall work in cooperation with all official and unofficial organizations and instrumentalities within the state which are interested in safety to the end that all possible resources shall be marshalled and utilized to reduce the menace of accidental death and injury . . . shall advise with the state departments having responsibilities for safeguarding the people against accidents, and especially with . . . the chairman of the public service commission . . . and the director of labor and industries in the accomplishment of the purposes as herein stated."

...

WEST VIRGINIA

SOURCES: West Virginia Code of 1949 Annotated, as amended

Rules and Regulations of State Agencies

STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

Authority and Functions 2

West Virginia Code of 1949 Annotated, Section 1265. Composition of Department. "There shall be a state department of health, which shall consist

1 Additional reference this page (Chapter 43.60).

2

Additional references on pages 301 (Section 2333), 302 (Section 2359), and 303 (Section 1872).

of a board of health, a director of health; directors of divisions and other employees as hereinafter provided."

Section 1267. Board of Health; Powers and Duties. "... The state board shall have the authority to enforce all of the laws of this state concerning the public health, and shall take care to protect the life and health of all of the inhabitants of the state, and to that end shall make or cause to be made sanitary investigations and inquiries respecting the cause of disease especially of epidemics and endemic conditions, and the means of prevention or control of such conditions; the source of mortality and the effects of localities, employment, habits ... and circumstances of life on the public health. . . . It shall inspect and examine food, drink and drugs offered for sale, or for public consumption, in such manner as it shall deem necessary to protect the public health, and shall report all violations of the laws of this state and the regulations adopted thereunder relating to pure food, drink and drugs to the prosecuting attorney of the county in which such violations occur, and lay before such prosecuting attorney the evidence in its knowledge of such violations. .

". . . It shall have the power to inspect, and to make and enforce, for the protection of the public health, reasonable rules and regulations to control the sanitary condition of .. creameries, dairies, slaughterhouses, workshops, factories, labor camps and places where offensive trades or industries are conducted. It shall have the power to make and enforce reasonable rules and regulations to control occupational and industrial health hazards, and to make inspections and conduct hearings respecting the cause and control of such hazards..

"The state board shall have the power and authority to make and promulgate, and from time to time amend such rules and regulations as it may deem necessary and advisable to properly put into effect the public health laws of this state, and for the administration of the powers granted to it by this article.

...

Section 1272. Administrative and Other Employees of the Department of Health. "The state board of health may . . . employ inspectors, examiners. . . Such inspectors, examiners . . . shall enforce the provisions of the public health laws and all duly promulgated rules and regulations of the board of health, and in the discharge of official duties shall have the right of entry into any . . . dairy, creamery, slaughterhouse, workshop, factory, labor camp and places where offensive trades or industries are conducted. Penalty for violation.

Section 1277. Prescribes penalty for violation of any health provisions or rules and regulations of the State Board of Health.

General Provisions Relating to Occupational Health

Statutory Provisions

None specifically.

Rules and Regulations

Adopted by State Board of Health.

1. Use of Fluoroscopic Shoe Fitting Machines. Effective November 14,

1950.

Regulations set forth requirements for minimum intensities of beams, protection of floor opening, control of primary X-ray beams and stray X-ray beams, and the posting of warning and instruction signs on machines.

2. Occupational and Industrial Health Regulations. Effective July 1,

1952.

Regulations apply to all places of employment except domestic help and mining and quarrying operations and deal with responsibilities of employer to provide and maintain adequate control measures and of employees to use the measures provided; prescribe acceptable methods for control of atmospheric contaminants; require that measures be taken for prevention of the transmission of infectious diseases and skin irritations; require provision of adequate illumination, and measures to prevent impairment to health of employees from exposure to ultraviolet and infrared radiation, noise, vibration, and X-radiation; set forth requirements for general ventilation, local exhaust ventilation, personal protective equipment, housekeeping and sanitation; and give threshold limit values for toxic substances and illumination standards in terms of foot-candles for various tasks.

3. Sanitation of Labor and Industrial Camps.

Regulations deal with water supply, provision of sanitation facilities, cleanliness of premises, and food handling.

4. Regulations Governing the Sanitation of Food Handling Establishments. Passed November 17, 1941.

Regulations apply to all food handling, processing, or vending establishments, and authorize the health officer to make inspections for purpose of investigating the methods practiced and prevailing sanitary conditions. Detailed requirements are given for cleanliness of premises and equipment, lighting, ventilation, toilet and hand washing facilities, and cleanliness of food handlers.

None.

Reporting of Occupational Diseases

STATE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Authority and Functions1

W. Va. Code of 1949 Annotated, Section 2313. State Department of Labor. "There shall be a state department of labor, which shall be under the control and management of a state commissioner of labor."

Section 2315. Inspections by Commissioner; Duties and Records of Employer. "The Commissioner of Labor. . . shall have the power and authority in the discharge of their duties, to enter any place of employment . . . for the purpose of collecting facts and statistics relating to the employment of workers and of making inspections for the proper enforcement of all labor laws in the State.

"The Commissioner or his authorized representative shall . . . visit and inspect the principal factories and workshops of the state, and shall, upon complaint and request . . . visit and inspect any place where labor is employed.

"In addition to such other powers and duties as may be conferred . . . the said commissioner shall have the power, duty, jurisdiction and authority. to make or cause to be made all necessary inspections to see that all laws and lawful orders which the department has the duty, power, and authority to enforce, are promptly and effectively carried out."

Orders of Commissioner.

66

Section 2332. Το carry out the provisions of this chapter [on Safety and Welfare], the commissioner of labor shall have the power to investigate and prescribe that reasonable safety devices, safe

1 · Additional reference on page 302 (Section 2527).

guards, or other means of protection be adopted for the prevention of accidents and to make, modify, repeal, and enforce reasonable general orders . . . for the prevention of accidents....

General Provisions Relating to Occupational Health and Safety

Statutory Provisions

Safety of Workplaces and Equipment

Section 2332. Employer to Safeguard Life, etc. of Employees. "Every employer shall furnish employment which shall be reasonably safe for the employees ... and shall adopt and use methods and processes reasonably adequate to render . . . employment safe, and shall do every other thing reasonably necessary to protect the life, health, safety, and welfare of such employees.

Section 2333. Machinery and Dangerous Places. Requires all power driven machinery, projecting or moving parts, vats, pans to be so located and protected so as not to be dangerous to employees, and all dangerous areas to be guarded; prohibits the use of defective machinery and repair of any machine while in motion; authorizes the Commissioner of Labor to adopt codes promulgated by the American Standards Association and approved by the U. S. Department of Labor regulating work in the construction industries; and requires all workshops employing 5 or more people in the mechanical department to keep accessible necessary first-aid equipment recommended by the State Department of Labor and approved by the State Department of Health.

Section 2334. Shafts, Hatchways, Wheel Holes, Elevators, Electrical Apparatus. Requires the provision of appropriate enclosures or means of protection for all openings, and the remedying of unsafe conditions when notified by the Commissioner of Labor.

Section 2336. Control of Machinery. Sets forth detailed requirements for safeguarding machinery of various types for prevention of accidents.

Section 2337. Stairways, Passageways, Lights, Overloading Floors or Walls. Requires hand-rails and treads on stairways, proper lighting in passageways, and prohibits overloading areas and crowding machinery.

Section 2354. Removal of Safeguards. Prohibits any person from removing or making ineffective safeguards required.

Eating Facilities

Section 2341. Food or Meals in Factories. Prohibits employees to take food into workrooms where "white lead, arsenic, or other poisonous substances, or injurious or noxious fumes, dusts or gases under harmful conditions are present"; requires the posting of notice to this effect; and requires employer to make provision, when practicable, for eating elsewhere than in such workrooms. Sanitation Facilities

Sections 2343 and 2344. Require that every workshop be provided with a sufficient number of water closets, separated for sex, well ventilated and kept sanitary, and adequate washing facilities and dressing rooms.

Industrial Homework

Sections 2366 (b) to 2366 (1). List prohibited industrial homework; authorize the Labor Commissioner to make investigations covering all phases of homework; provide for issuance of employer's permit and homeworker's certificate; and prescribe penalty for violation.

Miscellaneous

Section 2345. Empowers the Attorney General and prosecuting attorneys to prosecute any violations of orders of the Commissioner of Labor. Penalty for violation.

Section 2347. Inclosure of Street Car Platforms; Penalty. Requires operators or owners of street railways to protect employees from exposure to winds and inclement weather by properly enclosing street car platforms. Penalty for violation.

Rules and Regulations

Adopted by Commissioner of Labor.

Construction Industry Safety Code.

Code sets forth specifications and requirements for safety in connection with all excavations, building and construction work.

Employment of Women and Minors

Among pertinent provisions are the following:

W. Va. Code of 1949 Annotated, Section 2342. Requires persons employing females in any factory, mercantile establishment, mill or workshop to provide suitable seats and permit their use when duties allow it.

Section 2358. Prohibits the employment of children under 16 in gainful occupations other than agriculture or domestic service in homes.

Section 2359. Prohibits the employment of children under 18 in mines, and in connection with stone cutting, manufacture of highly inflammable substances, and certain metal industries, and in any other occupation declared to be hazardous or dangerous or injurious to life, limb, health, or morals, by the State Commissioners of Labor and of Health and the State Superintendent of Free Schools. Section 2364. Regulates hours of employment of children under 16 and requires lunch period after 5 consecutive hours of work.

Section 2366. Empowers the Commissioner of Labor to enforce child labor provisions and provides for right of entry and inspection. Penalty for violation.

Section 2332.

...

Reporting of Injuries

.. Reports and Investigations of Accidents when an accident occurs in any place of employment or public institution which results in injury to any employee, the employer . . shall provide the commissioner of labor the necessary information as to the cause of the injury, on blanks furnished free of charge to the employer and prescribed by the commissioner of labor."

WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION COMMISSIONER

The Workmen's Compensation Law is administered by the State Compensation Commissioner. (Sections 2494 to 2545.)

Section 2527. Authorizes the Commissioner to "cooperate with the state department of mines and the state department of labor in promoting general safety programs and in formulating rules and regulations to govern hazardous employments."

Occupational Disease Compensation

Section 2526. The terms "injury" and "personal injury" are extended to include silicosis and any other occupational disease as defined. Full coverage.