Senate Bill No. 545

(By Senator Redd)

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[Introduced February 18, 2000; referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend article four-c, chapter sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section twenty-four, relating to requiring restaurants to have on the premises during business hours an individual competent in the administration of cardiovascular pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the Heimlich maneuver.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article four-c, chapter sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section twenty-four, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4C. EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ACT.
§16-4C-24. All restaurants required to maintain emergency services on the premises.

Any restaurant operating in this state with more than four employees shall be required to have a person or persons on the premises during business hours qualified to administer cardiovascular pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and to administer the manual application of sudden upward pressure on the upper abdomen of a choking victim, commonly referred to as the "Heimlich maneuver," designed to force a foreign object from the windpipe.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require restaurants with more than four employees to have qualified personnel on the premises to administer CPR and the Heimlich maneuver during business hours.

This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.