Section 281-A:64 Safety Provisions; Administrative Penalty.
I. Every employer shall provide employees with safe employment. Safe employment includes but is not limited to furnishing personal protective equipment, safety appliances and safeguards; ensuring that such equipment, appliances, and safeguards are used regularly; and adopting work methods and procedures which will protect the life, health, and safety of the employees.
II. All employers with 10 or more employees shall prepare, with the assistance of the commissioner, a current written safety program. The programs shall be filed biennially with the commissioner on January 1. Employer programs shall, in addition to the specific rules and regulations regarding worker safety, include the process of warnings, job suspension, and job termination for violations of the safety rules and regulations set forth in the program.
III. Every employer of 5 or more employees shall establish and administer a joint loss management committee composed of equal numbers of employer and employee representatives. Employee representatives shall be selected by the employees. If workers are represented by a union, the union shall select the employee representatives. The joint loss management committee shall meet regularly to develop and carry out workplace safety programs, alternative work programs that allow and encourage injured employees to return to work, and programs for continuing education of employers and employees on the subject of workplace safety. The committee shall perform all duties required in rules adopted pursuant to this section.
IV. Employers subject to the requirements of paragraph III, other than employers participating in the safety incentive program under RSA 281-A:64-a, shall be placed on a list for early and periodic workplace inspections by the department's safety inspectors in accordance with rules adopted by the commissioner. Such employers shall comply with the directives of the department resulting from such inspections.
V. Notwithstanding paragraphs III and IV, an employer of 5 or more employees may satisfy the requirements of those paragraphs if such employer implements an equivalent loss management and safety program approved by the commissioner.
VI. The commissioner, in conjunction with the National Council of Compensation Insurance (NCCI), shall develop a list of the best and worst performers based on the experience modification factors promulgated by NCCI. The list shall include the top 10 lowest experience modification employers. The commissioner shall publicly recognize these low experience modification employers by presenting them with an award at the department's annual workers' compensation conference. The list of the top 10 highest and lowest experience modification employers shall be provided to the advisory council. The department shall review any specific claim against any employer listed in the top 10 highest experience modification list in conjunction with the safety program on file with the commissioner.
VII. In order to assist self-insurers in developing experience modification factors, self-insurers may submit the appropriate statistical information to the National Council of Compensation Insurance for calculating experience modifications.
VIII. The commissioner may assess an administrative penalty of up to $1,000 a day on any employer not in compliance with the written safety program required under paragraph II of this section, the joint loss management committee required under paragraph III of this section, or the directives of the department under paragraph IV of this section. Each violation shall be subject to a separate administrative penalty. All penalties collected under this paragraph shall be forwarded to the state treasurer for deposit in the special fund called the workers' compensation safety inspection fund established in paragraph IX.
IX. All funds collected under paragraph VIII shall be paid over to the treasurer for deposit in a special fund, called the workers' compensation safety inspection fund, which shall be used for the purposes of the safety provisions under RSA 281-A and for the purposes of RSA 281-A:67.
Source. 1990, 254:36. 1994, 3:19, eff. July 1, 1994. 1997, 343:9, 10, eff. Jan. 1, 1998.