Bill Text: IL HB3131 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Creates the Workplace COVID-19 Safety Committees Act. Provides that each private employer of at least 30 employees shall establish a safety committee at each of the employer's primary places of employment. Establishes requirements for composition of committees and meetings, records, reporting, and training. Provides for the duties of committees relating to hazard assessment and control, safety and health planning, development of procedures for accident investigations, and other specified matters. Provides that the safety committee shall assist the employer in providing information, instruction, training, and supervision as is necessary to ensure the health and safety of employees at work and individuals affected by their activities. Provides that the Department of Labor may levy a civil penalty upon an employer that violates the Act as established by rule.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 21-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2023-06-07 - Added Chief Co-Sponsor Rep. Theresa Mah [HB3131 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HB3131-Introduced.html

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103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2023 and 2024 HB3131 Introduced , by Rep. Lilian Jiménez SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
New Act
Creates the Workplace COVID-19 Safety Committees Act. Provides that each private employer of at least 30 employees shall establish a safety committee at each of the employer's primary places of employment. Establishes requirements for composition of committees and meetings, records, reporting, and training. Provides for the duties of committees relating to hazard assessment and control, safety and health planning, development of procedures for accident investigations, and other specified matters. Provides that the safety committee shall assist the employer in providing information, instruction, training, and supervision as is necessary to ensure the health and safety of employees at work and individuals affected by their activities. Provides that the Department of Labor may levy a civil penalty upon an employer that violates the Act as established by rule.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning employment.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
Workplace COVID-19 Safety Committees Act.
Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds that
hundreds of thousands of Illinois workers have contracted the
disease related to the COVID-19 virus in the workplace, and
that also hundreds are disabled each year from work-related
injuries and diseases. The General Assembly finds that many
COVID-19 infections, deaths, and workplace injury and illness
losses are needless, costly, and could have been prevented.
The General Assembly concludes that the establishment of joint
management and worker safety committees will help prevent such
losses and may reduce workers' compensation costs in this
State.
Section 10. Purpose. It is the purpose of this Act to bring
workers and management together in a non-adversarial,
cooperative effort to promote safety and health in the
workplace during the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and
beyond. The workplace safety committees established by this
Act shall consist of management and employee representatives

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who have an interest in the general promotion of safety and
health in the workplace.
Section 15. Establishment of safety committees.
(a) Every public and private employer of 30 or more
employees shall establish and administer a safety committee.
(b) To determine the employment levels under subsection
(a), the employer shall count all permanent, contract,
temporary, and seasonal workers under the employer's direction
and control and shall base the number on peak employment.
(c) Temporary services employers and labor contractors
shall establish safety committees based upon the total number
of workers over which the employer or contractor exercises
direction and control.
(d) Employers who hire only seasonal workers shall hold
crew safety meetings prior to the commencement of work at each
job site. The meetings shall promote discussions of safety and
health issues. All workers shall be informed of their right to
inspect and report workplace hazards and shall be encouraged
to make those inspections and reports during the meetings
according to provisions established in the federal
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.
Section 20. Location of safety committees.
(a) Safety committees shall be established at each of an
employer's primary places of employment. As used in this Act,

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"primary place of employment" means a major economic unit at a
single geographic location, comprised of a building or group
of buildings, and all surrounding facilities, having the
following characteristics: it has both management and workers
present; it has control over a portion of a budget; and it has
the ability to take action on the majority of the
recommendations made by a safety committee.
(b) An employer's auxiliary, mobile, or satellite
locations, such as those found in construction operations,
trucking, branch or field offices, sales operations, or highly
mobile activities, may be combined into a single, centralized
safety committee. This centralized safety committee shall
represent the safety and health concerns of all the locations.
Section 25. Recognition and approval of certain safety
committees. Upon application, the Department of Labor and the
Department of Public Health may recognize and approve safety
committees that are innovative or differ in form or function
if those safety committees meet the intent of this Act.
Section 30. Safety committee formation and membership.
(a) The safety committees required under this Act shall be
composed of an equal number of employer and employee
representatives. Employee representatives shall be selected by
their exclusive representative for collective bargaining
purposes or, if there is no exclusive representative, employee

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representatives shall be volunteers or shall be elected by
their peers. When agreed upon by workers and management, the
number of employees on the safety committee may be greater
than the number of employer representatives. Seasonal workers
shall not be counted for the purpose of determining the number
of members who will serve on the safety committee.
(b) The safety committees shall consist of:
(1) no fewer than 2 members for each employer with 30
or fewer employees; or
(2) no fewer than 4 members for each employer with
more than 30 employees.
The safety committees shall have a chairperson elected by
the safety committee members.
(c) Employee representatives attending safety committee
meetings required by this Act or participating in safety
committee instruction or training required by this Act shall
be compensated by the employer at the regular hourly wage.
(d) Employee representatives shall serve a continuous term
of at least one year. Length of membership shall be alternated
or staggered so that at least one experienced member is always
serving on the safety committee.
(e) Reasonable efforts shall be made to ensure that safety
committee members are representative of the major work
activities of the firm.
Section 35. Safety committee meetings.

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(a) The safety committee shall develop a written agenda
for conducting safety committee meetings. The agenda shall
prescribe the order in which safety committee business will be
addressed during the meeting.
(b) The safety committee shall hold regular meetings at
least once a month.
(c) Quarterly safety committee meetings may be substituted
for monthly meetings when the safety committee's sole area of
responsibility involves low hazard work environments. A low
hazard workplace is a work environment that has not had a
workplace accident, injury, or reportable medical disease
causing the loss of working days for any worker during a
3-month period.
(d) Small farms with 5 or fewer full time employees may
substitute quarterly meetings for monthly meetings during the
farms' off season. "Off season" means that period of time when
only routine farm upkeep is being done.
(e) Minutes shall be made of each meeting. The employer
shall maintain the minutes for 3 years for inspection by the
Department of Labor and the Department of Public Health.
Copies of the minutes shall be posted or made available for all
employees and shall be sent to each safety committee member.
All reports, evaluations, and recommendations of the safety
committee shall be made a part of the minutes of the safety
committee meeting.
(f) For each recommendation made at the safety committee

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meetings, a reasonable time limit shall be established for the
employer to respond in writing. The response should include
the action taken to comply with the recommendations, and, in
any case, the reasons why implementing the action was not
accomplished and a time frame to comply.
Section 40. Employee involvement. The safety committee
shall establish a system to allow the members to obtain
safety-related suggestions, reports of hazards, or other
information directly from all persons involved in the
operations of the workplace. The information obtained shall be
reviewed at the next safety committee meeting and shall be
recorded in the minutes for review and necessary action by the
employer.
Section 45. Hazard assessment and control.
(a) The safety committee shall assist the employer in
evaluating the employer's accident and illness prevention
program and shall make written recommendations to improve the
program when applicable. The safety committee shall also:
(1) include employer and employee representatives in
inspection teams, shall document in writing the location
and identity of the hazards, and shall make
recommendations to the employer regarding correction of
the hazards; and
(2) conduct quarterly inspections of satellite

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locations by the safety committee team or by a person
designated at the location.
(b) The person designated to carry out inspection
activities at the locations identified in items (1) and (2) of
subsection (a) shall be selected by the employer and shall
receive training in hazard identification in the workplace.
Section 50. Safety and health planning. The safety
committee shall establish procedures for the review of all
safety and health inspection reports made by the safety
committee. Based on the results of the review, the safety
committee shall make recommendations for improvement of the
employer's accident and illness prevention program. The safety
committee shall evaluate the employer's accountability system
and make recommendations to implement supervisor and employee
accountability for safety and health.
Section 55. Accident investigation. The safety committee
shall establish procedures for investigating all
safety-related incidents including injury accidents,
illnesses, and deaths. This Section shall not be construed to
require the safety committee to conduct the investigations.
Section 60. Safety and health training and instruction.
(a) The following items shall be discussed with all safety
committee members:

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(1) safety committee purposes and operation;
(2) rules adopted by the Department of Labor under
this Act; and
(3) methods of conducting safety committee meetings.
(b) Safety committee members shall have ready access to
Occupational Safety and Health Codes that apply to the
particular establishment and verbal instructions regarding
their use.
(c) All safety committee members shall receive training
based upon the type of business activity. At a minimum,
members shall receive training regarding:
(1) hazard identification in the workplace; and
(2) principles regarding effective accident and
incident investigations.
(d) The safety committee shall assist the employer in
providing information, instruction, training, and supervision
as is necessary to ensure, so far as is reasonably
practicable, the health and safety of employees at work and
individuals affected by their activities. This may include
training concerning hazard communication standards, emergency
action plans, fire safety, emergency exit routes, walking and
working surfaces, medical emergencies and first aid, blood
borne pathogens, fall protection, general safety and health,
lockout/tagout, powered industrial trucks, confined spaces,
and respiratory protection. The training shall be provided in
the primary languages used in the workplace as determined by

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the Department of Labor by rule.
Section 65. Special COVID-19 pandemic provisions. During
the COVID-19 pandemic, until the health authorities declare an
end to it, the safety committee shall have the following
special functions:
(1) Collect and post in conspicuous places, such as
bulletin boards, lunch rooms, and dressing rooms at each
location, information issued by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention of the United States Department of
Health and Human Services, the United States Department of
Labor, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration,
the Department of Public Health, and others concerning
prevention and measures to avoid contagion with COVID-19.
The postings shall be printed in the primary languages
used in the workplace as determined by the Department of
Labor by rule.
(2) Collect and post in such locations, and deliver to
all workers, executive orders regarding COVID-19 issued by
the Governor of Illinois. The postings shall be printed in
the primary languages used in the workplace as determined
by the Department of Labor by rule.
(3) Prepare and implement a response plan to be
executed in case an outbreak occurs in the workplace. An
outbreak of COVID-19 means the existence of 2 or more
workers presenting symptoms related to COVID-19 infection.

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(4) Make sure all mandated reporting of outbreaks to
the Department of Public Health is implemented.