Senate Bill No. 425
(By Senator Wooton)
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[Introduced February 21, 1994; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article three, chapter
twenty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the safety and
welfare of employees; and requiring that at least two
employees work shifts which deal with the public between the
hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. unless there is an
unbreakable security barrier protecting an employee who
works alone.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article three, chapter twenty-one of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. SAFETY AND WELFARE OF EMPLOYEES.
§21-3-1. Employers to safeguard life, etc., of employees;
reports and investigations of accidents; orders of
commissioner.
Every employer shall furnish employment which shall bereasonably safe for the employees therein engaged and shall
furnish and use safety devices and safeguards, and shall adopt
and use methods and processes reasonably adequate to render
employment and the place of employment safe, and shall do every
other thing reasonably necessary to protect the life, health,
safety, and welfare of such employees: Provided, That as used in
this section, the terms "safe" or "safety" as applied to any
employment, place of employment, place of public assembly or
public building, shall include, without being restricted hereby,
conditions and methods of sanitation and hygiene reasonably
necessary for the protection of the life, health, safety, or
welfare of employees or the public.
Every employer and every owner of a place of employment,
place of public assembly, or a public building, now or hereafter
constructed, shall so construct, repair and maintain the same as
to render it reasonably safe.
When an accident occurs in any place of employment or public
institution which results in injury to any employee, the employer
or owner of such place of employment or public institution, when
the same shall come to his knowledge, shall provide the
commissioner of labor the necessary information as to cause of
the injury, on blanks furnished free of charge to the employer
and prescribed by the commissioner of labor.
To carry out the provisions of this chapter the commissioner
of labor shall have the power to investigate and prescribe that
reasonable safety devices, safeguards, or other means ofprotection be adopted for the prevention of accidents in every
employment or place of employment, and to make, modify, repeal,
and enforce reasonable general orders, applicable to either
employers or employees, or both, for the prevention of accidents.
All orders of the commissioner of labor shall be prima facie
lawful and reasonable, and shall not be held invalid because of
any technical omission, provided there is substantial compliance
with the provisions of this chapter.
Every employer shall make an attempt to ensure the safety of
their employees, who have dealings with the public and work
between the hours of eleven o'clock post meridiem and seven
o'clock ante meridiem, from bodily harm caused by criminal
activities by requiring that there be at least two employees on
duty at the same time, unless there is an unbreakable security
barrier protecting such employee who is required to work alone.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require that employers
protect their employees from injury resulting from criminal
activity by requiring there be at least two employees on duty at
the same time between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. in
employment shifts which deal with the public, unless there is an
unbreakable security barrier protecting the employee working
alone.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.