man and administrative officer of the Board, the Commissioner of Health, the Commissioner of Taxation, and 4 members appointed by the Governor and approved by both Houses; authorizes it to make rules to carry out the purposes of the Act and to protect the fund established for this purpose; provides for the care of occupationally disabled or sick fishermen qualified under the Act, including payment for transportation to nearest place where approved medical facilities. are available and for necessary hospital, nursing, medical and surgical expenses; and authorizes the Board to enter into any cooperative arrangements with other Territorial, State and federal agencies, private clinics and rehabilitation centers in providing type and quality of treatment as will restore the fisherman to health and productivity, if possible. Commercial fishermen within the jurisdiction of Alaska Workmen's Compensation Act by reason of employer-employee relationship, or eligible for benefits under any Federal Act are exempted. MISCELLANEOUS Physical Examinations of Employees Transported Into Alaska Session Laws 1949, Chapter 103. The Act requires that all persons recruited by employers outside of Alaska for jobs in Alaska shall undergo a physical examination by a qualified physician as a check against infectious or contagious disease. Such an examination is to be made at the expense of the employer, and if person is found free from infectious or contagious disease, he shall be issued a certificate to that effect. Provision is also made for taking care of afflicted persons in accordance with laws of the Health Department. ARIZONA SOURCES: Arizona Code of 1939, and 1952 cumulative supplement 1953 New Laws STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH Authority and Functions1 Arizona Code of 1939, as amended by 1953 New Laws, Chapter 43, Section 68-112. Rules and regulations. "(a) The board shall have power to adopt, promulgate, repeal, and amend rules and regulations consistent with law to: 1. Define and control communicable diseases and 6. carry out the purposes of this ACT. "(b) The board shall have the power to: 1. Provide reasonable minimum standards necessary for the protection of public health, and 2. adopt, promulgate, repeal and amend reasonable and necessary rules and regulations to promote and provide for compliance with such minimum standards with relation to food and drink production, processing, storing, handling and transporting; water supply production, treatment and distribution; bottled water handling, processing, bottling, labeling, transporting and distributing; ice production, handling and distributing; sewage collection, treatment, disposal and reclamation; industrial waste treatment, disposal and reclamation. . ." 1 Additional reference on page 10 (Sections 56-302, 56–309, 56–310). Section 56-906. Examination of places of employment. "Any commissioner may enter any place of employment to collect facts and statistics, and bring to the attention of every employer any law, or any order of the commission, and failure on the part of such employer to comply therewith. No employer shall refuse to admit any commissioner to his place of employment." Section 56-907. General powers of commission. "The commission shall have full power, jurisdiction and authority to administer and enforce all laws for the protection of life, health, safety and welfare of employees in every case and under every law, where such duty is not now specifically delegated to any other board or officer, and in such latter cases, to counsel and advise and assist in the administration and enforcement of such laws; to investigate, ascertain and determine such reasonable classification of persons, employments and place of employment necessary to carry out the purposes of this article . . . to collect, collate and publish all statistical and other information relating to employees . and places of employment, with such other statistics as it deems proper; and upon petition by any person that any employment or place of employment is not safe or is injurious to the welfare of any employee, with or without notice, to make investigations necessary to determine the matter complained of. General Provisions Relating to Occupational Health and Safety Statutory Provisions Section 56-802. Manual labor in certain occupations declared hazardous-Instructions to employees. "The labor and services of workmen at manual and mechanical labor in the employment of any person, in the occupations enumerated in the next section, are hereby declared and determined to be service in a hazardous occupation within the meaning of the terms of the preceding section. (56-801-Liability defined) By reason of the nature and conditions of, and the means used and provided for doing the work in, said occupations, such service is especially dangerous and hazardous to the workmen therein, because of risks and hazards which are inherent in such occupations and which are unavoidable by the workmen therein. Every employer, employing workmen in such occupations . . . shall by rules, regulations or instructions, inform all employees in such occupations as to the duties and restrictions of their employment, to the end of protecting the safety of employees in such employment." Section 56-803. Hazardous occupations defined. Included are railroads of all types, manufacture of explosives, construction and repair work, mines, quarries and work in mills, shops, factories using mechanical power to operate machinery and appliances. Section 56-113. Mining and smelting work, electric plants, declared bazardous. “The employment in all underground mines, underground work ings, open cut workings, open pit workings, in or about, and in connection with, the operation of smelters, reduction works, stamp mills, concentrating mills, chlorination processes, cyanide processes, cement works, rolling mills, rod mills, coke ovens, blast furnaces, and electric light or electric power plants, is hereby declared to be injurious to health and dangerous to life and limb of those employed therein." Section 56-117. Laundry-Hours of labor-Ventilation-Penalty. Regulates hours of labor and provides that "every laundry room shall be so constructed as to provide at least six hundred cubic feet of air for each occupant therein." Penalty for violation. Section 56-118. Lavatories, change rooms, bath, in mines and certain works-Penalty-Pornography. "For the maintenance of public health, proper bath rooms, wash rooms, water closets and a heated change room immediately continuous to the works, shall be provided for every person.. engaged in the treatment or reduction of ores or metals, in cement works, in works using oils, cyanide, acids or quicksilver. Such water closets shall be screened and ventilated with not less than one seat for each twenty-five persons.... One shower bath shall be provided for every twenty-five men.. with adequate washroom facilities. These rooms and places shall at all times be open to employees and shall be kept in a clean and sanitary condition. A heated wash and change room shall be maintained contiguous to every mine employing twenty-five or more men. . . . Penalty for violation. Rules and Regulations By resolution, the Industrial Commission adopted the American Standard Safety Code B7-1935 entitled The Use, Care and Protection of Abrasive Wheels and Safety Code B15-1937 Mechanical Power-Transmission Apparatus on October 29, 1940 and General Construction Safety Code of the Industial Commission on August 16, 1940. Employment of Women and Minors Among pertinent provisions are the following: Section 56-301. Prohibits employment of children under 14 in specified occupations and industries. Section 56-302. Prohibits employment of children under 16 in enumerated occupations and industries and "in any other employment declared by the state board of health to be dangerous to lives or limbs, or injurious to the health or morals of children under the age of sixteen." Section 56-309. Prohibits employment of children under 18 in specified occupations and industries, and "in any other employment declared by the state board of health to be dangerous to the lives or limbs, or injurious to the health or morals of children under the age of eighteen.' Section 56-310. "The state board of health may from time to time determine whether or not any particular trade or occupation, is sufficiently injurious to the lives or limbs or injurious to the health or morals of minors under sixteen years and under eighteen years of age respectively, employed therein to justify their exclusion therefrom, and may prohibit their employment therein." Section 56-319. Prohibits employment of females in or about any mine, quarry, or coal breaker, or in any capacity where such employment compels them to remain standing constantly. Employers of females in any place or establishment mentioned in section 56-301 must provide suitable seats, chairs, or benches and permit their use when females are not engaged in active duties. Workmen's Compensation The Workmen's Compensation Law is administered by the Industrial Commission. (Sections 56-901 to 56-977) Occupational Disease Compensation Sections 56-1201 to 56–1262. Occupational Disease Disability Law. Schedule coverage. Reporting of Injuries Section 56-966. Requires that "Every employer governed by the provisions hereof, and every physician who attends an injured employee of such employer, shall file with the commission, from time to time, a full and complete report of every known injury to the employee arising out of or in the course of his employment and resulting in loss of life or injury. . ." STATE MINE INSPECTOR Sections 65-101 to 65-235. Contain the Mining Code of Arizona. Among the subjects covered are qualifications of State mine inspectors and deputies and their duties with respect to mine examinations, investigation of accidents and compliance with mining laws; serving of notices of dangerous conditions on operators; maintenance of first-aid supplies; care and use of explosives; provision of escapement shafts; hoisting, and outlets; precautions against fires and floods; safeguarding equipment and installations; and ventilation requirements. Hazardous Dust Conditions The law also provides for the appointment of a State Mine Dust Engineer whose duty it is to inspect mines as often as necessary or upon complaint; to determine whether any hazardous dust condition exists; to make recommendations to mine operators as to methods of reducing dust; and to see that they are complied with. "A hazardous dust condition' shall be deemed to exist where the breathing zone of an employee while engaged in the performance of his work contains in excess of ten million particles of air borne dust, between one micron and five microns in largest dimension, per cubic foot of air; provided, that if the free silica or asbestos content of such air borne dust does not exceed ten per cent, a dust hazard shall not be deemed to exist unless such particles exceed one hundred million per cubic foot of air. Dust counts shall be determined in accordance with the United States Public Health Service technique as described in Report No. 1528, from the Public Health Reports . . . 'Dust prevention practices' shall include ventilation, suction or exhaust methods of removing dust, wet methods for settling dust, and the use of respirators when the condition or exposure is temporary or intermittent, and such other means of removing or settling dust from mine air as shall be approved by the state mine dust engineer." (Section 65-231) Safety Rules Mine Safety Rules, issued by the State Mine Inspector in accordance with authority to fix safety standards, cover general safety precautions; safety rules for underground men and for surface workers; requirements for first aid; safe handling and storing of explosives and blasting practices; requirements and duties of hoisting engineers; ventilation, lighting and use of cages; safety precautions for shafts; electrical installations; protection against floods; and prohibitions as to use of inflammable materials. STATE BOARD OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION Vocational Rehabilitation Sections 56-503 to 56-510. The State Board of Vocational Education is empowered to maintain a division of vocational rehabilitation for providing vocational rehabilitation services to disabled persons. The division is authorized to adopt such methods and comply with such conditions as may be necessary to secure full benefits of federal statutes; to cooperate with other departments and agencies in providing services and studying problems involved; to enter into reciprocal agreements with other States; and to conduct research and compile statistics relating to the vocational rehabilitation of disabled persons. Criteria for eligibility for assistance are specified. PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION Section 69-228. Safety devices, commission may order. "The commission may by order, rule or regulation, require every public service corporation to maintain and operate its line, plant, system, equipment, and premises in such manner as to promote and safeguard the health and safety of its employees, passengers, customers and the public, and to this end may prescribe the installation, use, maintenance and operation of appropriate safety or other devices or appliances... establish uniform or other standards of equipment, and require the performance of any other act which health or safety may demand." ARKANSAS SOURCES: Arkansas Statutes 1947 Annotated, as amended Rules and Regulations of State Agencies STATE BOARD OF HEALTH Authority and Functions 1 Arkansas Statutes 1947 Annotated, Section 82-109. Supervisory power and control over health of citizens. "The State Board of Health shall have general supervision and control of all matters pertaining to the health of the citizens of this State. Section 82-110. Promulgation of rules and regulations to protect public health. "Power is hereby conferred on the Arkansas State Board of Health to make all necessary and reasonable rules and regulations of a general nature for the protection of the public health, and for the general amelioration of the sanitary and hygienic conditions within the State. . . .' Section 82-112. Nuisances-Examinations-Reports of results-Orders of governor Violations. "At any time, the Governor may require the State Board of Health to examine into nuisances or questions affecting the security of life and health in any locality . . . and the said board shall have all the necessary powers to make such examinations, and it shall report the results thereof to the Governor and the Governor may declare them to be public nuisances, and order them to be changed as he shall direct, or abated and removed. 1Additional reference on page 16 (Section 81-704). |