Legislature(2001 - 2002)
02/28/2002 01:37 PM Senate L&C
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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SB 31-PENALTIES: OSHA VIOLATIONS CAUSING DEATH
CHAIRMAN STEVENS announced SB 31 to be up for consideration.
MR. RICH MASTRIANO, Director, Division of Labor Standards and
Safety, supported CSSB 31.
SENATOR LEMAN moved to adopt the committee substitute to SB 31,
Lauterbach\C as the working document.
SENATOR TORGERSON objected to hear the changes.
MR. MASTRIANO replied that the changes in section 1 are that the
original bill did not have total civil penalties of $25,000 for
any violation and %50,000 for a willful or repeat violation.
Changes in Section 1(4) say, "not subject to reduction by
negotiation or settlement unless expressly approved in writing by
the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development and the
Attorney General."
SENATOR LEMAN asked who wanted this CS.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS replied that this came from the department.
SENATOR TORGERSON asked why they subjected violations in the
committee substitute to AS 18.60.010 - .105 and not (a)(b) and
(c), which is in the original version.
MR. MASTRIANO responded that those subsection describe what
serious, willful and repeat violations are. "Basically, the
existing law allows for a mandatory reduction in those penalties
under (h)…"
CHAIRMAN STEVENS said there were three components to section 1 in
the original bill, but in the committee substitute there are four
components. He asked which section was added.
MR. MASTRIANO replied that on page 2, they added, "(1) inclusive
of all final civil penalties under this section for all
violations connected with the death of the employee;". There
would be a total of $25,000 inclusive of all civil penalties.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked what the existing statute was on that now.
MR. MASTRIANO replied that now for a serious violation - up to
$7,000, which can be reduced for size, good faith and history of
the employer.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS remarked that it says $7,000 per day.
MR. MASTRIANO said that was for failure to correct a problem, but
ordinarily it is corrected within that time frame, unless they
ask for an extension on abatement.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked why the department wanted to change the
current statute and was it similar to OSHA regulation now.
MR. MASTRIANO replied that it is similar to OSHA regulation. The
department is mandated to reduce the penalty by size and history
- and if it's willful, they don't give a good faith reduction.
Their proposed CS would eliminate the department from
automatically reducing the penalties, leaving it to the
commissioner and the attorney general. This is more stringent
that OSHA requirements.
MR. MASTRIANO said they are required to adopt a number of
guidelines by reference. "If we change anything, we have to
change it and be more stringent than the OSHA requirement."
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked how many cases per year did this apply to.
MR. MASTRIANO said that last year there were 18 fatalities in
various industries, but he added that they don't cover the
fishing industry (U.S. Department of Labor covers the fishing
industry). They cover shore-based processing, construction
industries and general industry.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked who determines that the employer willfully
violated the standards.
MR. MASTRIANO said the OSHA enforcement officer who works for the
state will write a citation and at that point there is an
investigation. Currently, when a citation is given to an employer
with less than 25 employees, for instance, that citation is
automatically reduced by 60% (from a serious maximum of $7,000).
If this is his first violation, he will get a good faith
reduction of up to 20%, which results in an 80% total reduction.
If he has no previous history with the department, he gets an
additional 10%. So a $7,000 fine can be reduced by 90%. It can be
reduced even further in a settlement. "A fatality could be
reduced to $750."
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked if this would have any impact on the
settlement of the individual's estate.
MR. MASTRIANO replied no.
SENATOR AUSTERMAN asked of the 18 deaths were the total that
applied to this bill.
MR. MASTRIANO said there were a total of 23, but for willful or
violations of the standards that caused the death there were 18
total.
SENATOR AUSTERMAN asked if these standards were stronger than
federal law.
MR. MASTRIANO replied they would be, because the federal law
mandates that they reduce the penalty.
SENATOR AUSTERMAN asked him to explain why the department wants
stricter regulations than OSHA.
MR. MASTRIANO replied:
I think when someone loses their life in a work related
accident and it's a result of a willful or serious
violation on the part of the employer, to reduce that
penalty for the employer failing to comply with the law
to $750 or $1,500 - what value do you place on a
worker? We think that there should be something that
gets the employer's attention.
SENATOR AUSTERMAN commented, "Irregardless of how they do it in
the rest of the United States."
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked what percent of states under OSHA have
more stringent requirements than OSHA.
MR. MASTRIANO replied that this bill is modeled after Minnesota
where it's been in effect for two years. That is the only state
he is aware of having a more stringent requirement.
MR. DICK CATTANAEU, Executive Director, Associated General
Contractors, opposed SB 31. They did not understand why the bill
was needed.
I am not aware of any companies that are serial
murderers - that have repeated incidents of killing
people and that's what it's saying. We need to penalize
the company so they don't do it again…A fatality on a
job is extremely harmful to a company. And it's not
just the $750 you may get fined or the $7,000. There
are going to be other OSHA fines associated with that
and workers' compensation claims and some civil suites
as well. You can't put a price on a person's life and
we're not trying to do that. We just don't see a need
for this. We're concerned about the bill when it says,
"not less than."
SENATOR LEMAN asked if he had seen the committee substitute or
did he not like either bill.
MR. CATTANAEU said they didn't like either version even after
meeting with the department this summer and having the reason
explained to them. He reiterated that he was worried about
language saying "not less than" and the idea that companies are
repeat offenders. He said this statute includes airplane
accidents and things like that.
SENATOR TORGERSON said he agreed with him on his fundamental
figures. He asked if he would be okay with increasing the $7,000
to another number, not putting the minimum in and leaving it
subject to (h), which says the commissioner shall give due
consideration to the size of the business of the employer being
charged, the gravity of the violation, the good faith of the
employer and the history of previous violations.
MR. CATTANAEU replied that he agreed that $7,000 was
insufficient, but by itself, it wouldn't stop someone. He
reiterated, if someone dies on the job, there would be other
violations.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked if he was aware of any other states
working on this issue.
MR. CATTANAEU said that he didn't know of any others than
Minnesota.
SENATOR DAVIS asked if Minnesota was the only state that had
adopted this.
MR. MASTRIANO replied yes and added that there is one employer
this last year that has killed more than one person. The way the
committee substitute is written right now, the total fine for a
fatality would be the $25,000 or the $50,000, if it were willful.
SENATOR LEMAN moved to withdraw his motion to adopt the committee
substitute. There were no objections and it was so ordered.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS announced that they would hold the bill for
further work and adjourned the meeting at 2:15 p.m.
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