Bill Text: NY S03292 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Establishes a registry of workplace fatalities to record information pertaining to all incidents under which an employee suffers a fatal injury; requires the filing of 72-hour and 90-day reports pertaining to such workplace fatalities and requires the department of labor to publish such reports on the department's website.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 23-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2020-12-28 - COMMITTED TO RULES [S03292 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S03292-Amended.html


                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         3292--A
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                    February 5, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen.  RAMOS  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be  committed  to  the  Committee  on  Labor  --  committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to said committee
        AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to establishing a registry of
          workplace fatalities to record information pertaining to all incidents
          under which an employee suffers a fatal injury
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 44 to read
     2  as follows:
     3    § 44. Workplace fatality registry. 1. Registry. The  department  shall
     4  create  and  maintain  a  registry of workplace fatalities. The registry
     5  shall include information regarding all incidents under which an employ-
     6  ee suffers a fatal injury at their workplace.
     7    2. Definitions. For the purposes of this section:
     8    a. "Employee" shall include, but not be limited to, direct  employees,
     9  contracted  employees, subcontracted employees, independent contractors,
    10  temporary or contingency workers, incarcerated persons participating  in
    11  work  programs  for remuneration or credit, apprentices, interns, volun-
    12  teers, or any other persons who perform  duties  at  the  direction  and
    13  discretion of an employer.
    14    b.  "Employer" shall include a direct employer, contractor, or subcon-
    15  tractor. In the absence of a formal hiring  agreement,  the  person  who
    16  directs or provides compensation to the employee shall be considered the
    17  employer unless such person is also directed and compensated by another.
    18  In  such  cases,  the  persons  successively  above  the employee in the
    19  employment chain shall be considered the employer. In  the  instance  of
    20  the death of an intern, apprentice or volunteer, the sponsoring company,
    21  corporation or not-for-profit shall be considered the employer.
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD09276-02-9

        S. 3292--A                          2
     1    c.  "Workplace"  shall  include,  but not be limited to, an employee's
     2  location of direct employment, remote sites in the scope of  performance
     3  of the employee's duties, or any other site where the employee may be as
     4  a result of employer direction.
     5    3.  Seventy-two-hour reports. a. Each county coroner, medical examiner
     6  or other authorized official whose role  is  to  register  deaths  shall
     7  report  all  workplace  fatalities  to the department within seventy-two
     8  hours of declaration of death.
     9    b. Information to be reported within seventy-two hours shall  include,
    10  but not be limited to:
    11    (i) the name of the employee;
    12    (ii) the age of the employee;
    13    (iii) the occupation of the employee;
    14    (iv)  the  cause  of death, if such cause of death has been determined
    15  within the seventy-two hours;
    16    (v) the manner of death;
    17    (vi) the location of death;
    18    (vii) the name of the employer;
    19    (viii) the business address of the employer;
    20    (ix) the stated business purpose or industry of the employer;
    21    (x) the name of the official or medical personnel making the  declara-
    22  tion of death;
    23    (xi)  the name of the person or persons charged with making the deter-
    24  mination of the cause and manner of death; and
    25    (xii) contact information for the office making  notification  to  the
    26  department,  including  contact  information  for  the person or persons
    27  making the declaration of death, the person or persons  determining  the
    28  cause  of  death,  and  the  person or persons determining the manner of
    29  death.
    30    4. Ninety-day reports. a. Information shall be reported to the depart-
    31  ment by the official of each county who is  charged  with  investigating
    32  fatal  incidents  no  later  than  ninety  days after the declaration of
    33  death.
    34    b. Information to be reported within ninety days  shall  include,  but
    35  not be limited to:
    36    (i)  the  cause of death of the employee, when such cause of death has
    37  not been previously determined  and  reported  in  the  seventy-two-hour
    38  report;
    39    (ii) the race of the employee;
    40    (iii) the ethnicity of the employee;
    41    (iv) the nationality of the employee;
    42    (v) the immigration status of the employee;
    43    (vi) the union status of the employee;
    44    (vii)  whether  criminal  or civil charges have been filed against the
    45  employer in the death of the employee and, for incidents  where  charges
    46  have been filed:
    47    (1) the details of such criminal or civil charges including the charg-
    48  ing officer or agency; and
    49    (2) the actual criminal or civil charge or charges;
    50    (viii)  the  name of the person charged with making the determinations
    51  and reporting the information required by this section; and
    52    (ix) contact information for the office  making  notification  to  the
    53  department,  including  contact  information  for  the person or persons
    54  charged with making the determinations  and  reporting  the  information
    55  required by this section.

        S. 3292--A                          3
     1    5.  Reporting  system.  The  department  shall  establish  a telephone
     2  reporting system for the information required to be reported pursuant to
     3  this section within ninety days of the effective date of  this  section.
     4  The  department  shall  also  establish an online electronic information
     5  reporting system for the information required to be reported pursuant to
     6  this section within twelve months of the effective date of this section.
     7    6.  Failure  to report. Failure by a county coroner, medical examiner,
     8  other authorized official whose role is to register  deaths,  or  county
     9  official charged with investigating fatal incidents to make seventy-two-
    10  hour or ninety-day reports in a timely manner shall be subject to a fine
    11  of  not  less  than one thousand dollars nor more than two thousand five
    12  hundred dollars per failure to make such seventy-two-hour or  ninety-day
    13  report.
    14    7.  Accessibility  of  registry. The registry shall be published elec-
    15  tronically  in  a  publicly  accessible  database  on  the  department's
    16  website. The database shall be published in a manner by which all infor-
    17  mation  required pursuant to subdivisions three and four of this section
    18  is accessible and searchable. The department shall publish the  informa-
    19  tion  reported  in  seventy-two-hour  and  ninety-day reports within one
    20  business day of the receipt of such reports by the department.
    21    § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
    22  it shall have become a law; provided, however, that any death subject to
    23  the provisions of this act that occurs on or after the day on which this
    24  bill shall  have  become  a  law  shall  be  subject  to  the  reporting
    25  provisions  of  this  act and shall be reported within thirty days after
    26  such death.   Effective  immediately,  the  addition,  amendment  and/or
    27  repeal  of  any  rule  or regulation necessary for the implementation of
    28  this act on its effective date are authorized to be made  and  completed
    29  on or before such effective date.
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