Construction Safety, Health, and Education Improvement Act of 1991

Summary

Construction Safety, Health, and Education Improvement Act of 1991 - Amends the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (the Act) to establish in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) an Office of Construction Safety, Health, and Education (the Office) to ensure safe and healthy working conditions in the performance of construction work. Directs the Secretary of Labor (the Secretary) to: (1) develop mandatory standards for construction safety and health plans and programs established under this Act; (2) assume control of a construction site to both prevent the destruction of any evidence that would assist in the investigation of a fatality, serious injury, or incident, (unless it must be moved or destroyed as a part of rescue operations) and monitor the rescue operations conducted in response to the incident; (3) assist the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health in developing training courses and curriculum for the Construction Safety and Health Academy; (4) advise and consult with construction employer associations, construction employers, construction employees, and labor organizations as to effective means of preventing fatalities and serious injuries in construction work; (5) increase awareness of construction site safety through education, training, and outreach programs; (6) promulgate regulations requiring construction employers to establish and comply with special health and safety programs if they have high frequency rates of fatalities or serious injuries or patterns of noncompliance with health and safety standards; (7) develop and implement regulations necessary to ensure compliance with the Act, and ensure that such regulations are appropriate and adequate for the safety and health of employees of firms of different sizes, types of work, and past safety and compliance records (different firms); (8) make available materials necessary for compliance with the Act to project constructors, employers, and employees; and (9) carry out other duties set forth in this Act. Establishes within OSHA the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Construction who is to: (1) be appointed by the Secretary; (2) coordinate Office activities with those of other offices and directorates within OSHA as they relate to safety, health, and education in the construction industry; and (3) coordinate the activities and advice of the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health with all OSHA activities relating to such matters, ensuring that the Advisory Committee performs its functions under the Act and the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act. Directs the Secretary, with the advice of the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health, to determine the necessary qualifications and training for OSHA inspectors, including: (1) full understanding of the Act and the Secretary's standards and regulations for the construction industry; and (2) at least five years' experience working in the construction industry. Provides for designation of an Office employee to serve as small business liaison. Establishes requirements for construction safety and health plans and programs. Requires designation of a project constructor (the constructor) by the construction owner for every construction project covered by the Act. Gives the constructor overall responsibility for the safety and health of all construction employees at the construction worksite, and for performing constructor duties set out in the Act and regulations issued under it. Considers the construction owner as the project constructor if such owner does not designate a constructor. Directs the constructor for a worksite to develop and implement written safety and health plans, including: (1) hazard analyses that identify the potential for and provide instructions to prevent hazards in the construction process; and (2) construction process plans that include means to ensure worksite structural stability and worksite inspections. Requires constructors to designate project safety coordinators (coordinators) for construction projects and notify construction employers of their identity (although such coordinators may not be assigned overall responsibility for project safety). Requires coordinators, on behalf of constructors, to: (1) monitor compliance by construction employers with the project safety and health plan, the employer's own safety and health program, and the Act and all applicable standards and regulations; (2) maintain project safety records; (3) give notice of hazards or noncompliance; (4) review employer safety and health programs prior to work commencement; and (5) ensure construction employers' compliance with reporting requirements. Requires constructors to develop and implement permit systems to authorize employers to engage in operations determined to pose a risk of death or serious injury (covered operations). Requires covered operations to include: (1) construction of trenches and excavations; (2) erection and dismantling of scaffolding; (3) demolition of any building or structure; (4) operation of cranes and derricks; (5) operations requiring employees to enter confined or enclosed spaces; (6) operations involving exposure to asbestos and other toxic materials; and (7) other operations designated by the Secretary. Requires constructors, in issuing such permits, to ensure that employers: (1) know of and show intent to comply with requirements of the Act and standards and regulations issued by the Secretary; and (2) have developed safety and health programs that adequately address the hazards of the covered operation. Requires each construction employer (employer) on a construction project to develop and implement a project safety and health program commensurate with the scope of their work. Requires such programs to require: (1) the employer to appoint one competent person to be responsible for general program administration; (2) a competent person to be at each worksite at all times that the employer is engaged in construction work; (3) competent persons to inspect worksites frequently and take all necessary actions to eliminate hazards, including work stoppage or removal of affected employees if necessary; (4) provision of prescribed general health and safety training for construction employees; (5) adequate worksite instruction in the recognition of unsafe and unhealthy conditions, applicable standards and regulations, use of construction worksite equipment, and the handling of toxic and harmful substances; (6) emergency evacuation plans, inspection procedures, reporting and recording of incidents; (7) a procedure for employees and employee representatives to obtain an immediate inspection or a written evaluation, or both, of a perceived hazardous condition or harmful substance by a qualified person at any time in the construction process; (8) upon determination that such condition or substance presents an imminent danger, for the project constructor to stop work at, or remove affected employees from, the area in which such danger exists; and (9) other requirements, including procedures for monitoring, notification, and safety meetings. Sets forth procedures for emergency waivers of such requirements under specified conditions. Sets forth provisions for inspections, investigations, reporting, and recordkeeping. Directs the Secretary to establish an effective system for construction worksite inspections. Requires such system to give inspection priority to construction worksites and operations on the basis of their potential for fatalities or serious injuries, giving due weight to: (1) employers' and owners' worksite compliance records; and (2) frequency and severity rates of fatalities, serious injuries, and incidents attributable to particular owners and employers and particular types of construction projects, worksites, and operations. Prohibits such priority system from limiting: (1) inspections based on complaints of imminent dangers; or (2) inspections following up prior enforcement actions or proceedings. Prohibits the Secretary from excluding from construction worksite inspections any construction owner or employer. Requires project constructors to submit, before construction work commences, specified types of information necessary for the Secretary to develop and conduct a system of prioritized inspections. Requires project constructors to make and maintain accurate records concerning fatalities, serious injuries, and incidents on a project. Requires construction employers to make and maintain such records with respect to their own employees. Requires reports to the Secretary by telephone or telegraph, within four hours after its occurence, any incident involving construction work that results in: (1) a serious injury or a fatality (to be reported by the construction employer of the employee involved); or (2) a structural failure (to be reported by the project constructor). Requires such reports to specify certain information. Directs the Secretary to conduct site inspections to investigate all such reports of incidents, as the Secretary prescribes. Requires such inspections within 24 hours after receipt of the telephone or telegraph report, unless site conditions would make inspection dangerous. Requires the project constructor to prevent destruction of evidence. Directs the Secretary to make public a narrative description of the occurrence. Requires the project constructor, at project completion or at one-year intervals during the project, to report to the Secretary all fatalities and serious injuries and all structural failures. Requires such report to provide specified information. Establishes in OSHA a Construction Safety and Health Academy to train: (1) OSHA employees who conduct construction worksite inspections; (2) construction employers and employees; and (3) other persons as the Secretary, with the advice of the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health, considers appropriate. Authorizes the Academy to enter into cooperative educational and training agreements with educational institutions, State governments, labor organizations, and construction industry employers. Requires the Secretary and the Academy to provide equal access to services for employers, employees, and employee representatives. Makes technical revisions relating to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Grants the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health specified powers to carry out its functions under the Act and under the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act. Limits the terms of members of such Committee. Directs the Secretary to respond in writing within 60 days to any recommendation made by such Committee. Requires any State construction safety and health plan to comply with specified requirements for State plans under the Act and to provide for development and enforcement of requirements at least as effective as those imposed by the Act and the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States for administering and enforcing this Act. Sets forth formulas for determining the Federal share of such grants. Directs the Secretary to report to the President and the Congress: (1) annually on certain general subjects as these relate to the construction industry, including the operation of the Office; and (2) within 120 days after three years of Office operation, on whether specified relevant information supports the continued existence of the Office within OSHA or supports enactment of legislation to establish in the Department of Labor a Construction Industry Safety and Health Administration to be headed by an Assistant Secretary of Labor for Construction Safety and Health. Sets forth provisions relating to the application of this Act. Authorizes the Secretary to determine that certain types of construction projects or operations should not be covered by specified requirements of this Act because compliance is not feasible and will not promote a significant increase in construction employee safety and health. Requires the Secretary, in making such determinations with repect to construction projects or operations, to take account of: (1) number of construction employees working; (2) duration; (3) type of work being performed, particularly associated risk of death or serious injury; (4) frequency and severity rates of deaths, serious injuries, and incidents of the construction employers and owners involved; and (5) such employers' and owners' record of compliance with Federal and State safety and health laws and regulations. Sets forth procedures for appealing adverse effects of such determinations. Requires each type of construction project or operation that the Secretary determines to be not covered by specified requirements of this Act to comply with alternative requirements established by the Secretary. Requires that all construction projects and operations be covered by specified requirements of this Act unless and until the Secretary establishes a contrary determination. Exempts from such coverage construction work performed under a contract between a construction employer and a homeowner for work on the homeowner's own residence, unless such work involves a specified covered operation. Directs the Secretary to: (1) review all laws describing criteria by which Federal construction contracts are awarded; and (2) within 90 days after enactment of this Act, deliver to specified congressional committees recommendations regarding legislative changes required to make safety records (including records of compliance with safety and health laws and regulations) one criterion considered in the awarding of Federal construction contracts. Sets forth an effective date for this Act and timetables for interim and final regulations.

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• Introduced in Senate (text)

  Introduced in Senate · EN

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• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 14 March 1991

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