ENGROSSED

Senate Bill No. 433

(By Senators Anderson, Kessler, Fanning and Ross)

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[Introduced February 9, 2000; referred to the Committee on Energy, Industry and Mining.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article ten, chapter twenty-two-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to emergency personnel in coal mines; and updating definitions and certifications.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article ten, chapter twenty-two-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 10. EMERGENCY MEDICAL PERSONNEL.
§22A-10-1. Emergency personnel in coal mines.
(a) Emergency medical services personnel must be employed on each shift at every mine that:
(1) Employs more than ten employees; and
(2) Has more than eight persons present on the shift.
The emergency medical services personnel must be employed at their regular duties at a central location or, when more than one person is required pursuant to the provisions of subsection (b) of this section, at a location which provides for convenient, quick response to emergencies. The emergency medical services personnel must have available to them at all times the equipment prescribed by the director of the office of miners' health, safety and training, in consultation with the commissioner of the bureau of public health.
(b) After the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-five two thousand, emergency medical services personnel shall be defined as a person who is certified as an emergency medical technician-mining, emergency medical technician, emergency medical technician-ambulance, emergency medical technician-intermediate, mobile intensive care paramedic, emergency medical technician-paramedic as defined in section three, article four-c, chapter sixteen of this code, or physician assistant as defined in section sixteen, article three, chapter thirty of this code means any person certified by the commissioner of the bureau of public health or authorities recognized and approved by the commissioner, to provide emergency medical services as authorized in article four-c, chapter sixteen of this code and including emergency medical technician-mining. At least one emergency medical services personnel shall be employed at a mine for every fifty employees or any part thereof who are engaged at any time, in the extraction, production or preparation of coal.
(c) A training course designed specifically for certification of emergency medical technician-mining shall be developed at the earliest practicable time by the commissioner of the bureau of public health in consultation with the board of miner training, education and certification. The training course for initial certification as an emergency medical technician-mining shall not be less than sixty hours, which shall include, but is not limited to, mast trouser application, basic life support skills and emergency room observation or other equivalent practical exposure to emergencies as prescribed by the commissioner of the bureau of public health.
(d) The maintenance of a valid emergency medical technician-mining certificate may be accomplished without taking a three-year recertification examination: Provided, That such the emergency medical technician-mining personnel completes an eight hour annual retraining and testing program prescribed by the commissioner of the bureau of public health in consultation with the board of miner training, education and certification.
(e) All emergency medical services personnel currently certified as emergency medical service attendants or emergency medical technicians shall receive certification as emergency medical technicians without further training and examination for the remainder of their three-year certification period; such emergency medical service attendant or emergency medical technician may upon expiration of such certification become certified as an emergency medical technician-mining upon completion of the eight hour retraining program referred to in subsection (d) above.