I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2199 
To amend the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to authorize 
the Secretary of Labor to prevent employee exposure to imminent dangers. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 30, 2009 
Mr. BISHOP of New York (for himself, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. HARE, Mr. 
KUCINICH, and Mr. SABLAN) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Education and Labor 
A BILL 
To amend the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 
to authorize the Secretary of Labor to prevent employee 
exposure to imminent dangers. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Workers 
From Imminent Dangers Act of 2009’’. 
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SEC. 2. STREAMLINED PROCEDURES TO COUNTERACT IM-
MINENT DANGERS. 
(a) PROCEDURES.—Section 13 of the Occupational 
Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 662) is amend-
ed— 
(1) by striking subsections (a), (b), and (c) and 
inserting the following: 
‘‘(a)(1) If the Secretary determines, on the basis of 
an inspection or investigation under this Act, that a condi-
tion or practice in a place of employment is such that an 
imminent danger to safety or health exists that could rea-
sonably be expected to cause death or serious physical 
harm or permanent impairment of the health or functional 
capacity of employees if not corrected immediately or be-
fore the imminence of such danger can be eliminated 
through the enforcement procedures otherwise provided by 
this Act, the Secretary shall inform the employer and the 
affected employees and their representative of such immi-
nent danger and shall request that the condition or prac-
tice be corrected immediately or that employees be imme-
diately removed from exposure to such danger. 
‘‘(2) The Secretary shall not prevent the entry or con-
tinued activity of employees whose presence is necessary 
to avoid, correct, or remove such imminent danger or to 
maintain the capacity of a continuous process operation 
to resume normal operations without a complete cessation 
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of operations or, where a cessation of operations is nec-
essary, to permit such to be accomplished in a safe and 
orderly manner. 
‘‘(3) If the employer refuses to comply with the re-
quest under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall imme-
diately issue an order requiring the employer to cause all 
persons, except those employees referred to in paragraph 
(2), to be withdrawn from, and to be prohibited from en-
tering, such area until an authorized representative of the 
Secretary determines that such imminent danger and the 
conditions or practices which caused such imminent dan-
ger no longer exist. The issuance of an order under this 
subsection shall not preclude the issuance of a citation 
under section 9 or the proposing of a penalty under section 
17. The fact that an order under paragraph (3) has been 
issued shall be noted in any citation issued pursuant to 
section 9 with respect to the hazard involved. 
‘‘(4) Each finding made and order issued under this 
section shall be given promptly to the employer by the per-
son making such finding or order. All such findings and 
orders shall be in writing, and shall be signed by the per-
son making them and shall contain a detailed description 
of the conditions or practices which cause and constitute 
an imminent danger and a description of the area of the 
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place of employment from which persons must be with-
drawn and prohibited from entering. 
‘‘(5) Any order issued pursuant to subsection (a) may 
be modified or terminated by an authorized representative 
of the Secretary following consultation with the employer 
and any representative of the affected employees. Any 
order issued under subsection (a) shall remain in effect 
until vacated, modified, or terminated by the Secretary, 
or modified or vacated by the Commission pursuant to 
subsection (d).’’; and 
(2) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub-
section (b) and after such subsection inserting the 
following: 
‘‘(c) No person shall discharge or in any manner dis-
criminate against any employee because such employee 
has refused to perform a duty that has been identified as 
the source of an imminent danger by any order issued 
under subsection (a). The right to refuse to perform such 
a duty shall be in addition to any other right to refuse 
to perform hazardous work that is afforded to employees 
by this Act, by standards or regulations issued pursuant 
to this Act, by contract, or by other applicable law. 
‘‘(d)(1) Any employer notified of an order under sub-
section (a) or any affected employees or representative of 
affected employees notified of the issuance, modification, 
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or termination of such an order may apply to the Commis-
sion within 30 days of such notification for reinstatement, 
modification or vacation of such order. The Commission 
shall forthwith afford an opportunity for a hearing (in ac-
cordance with section 554 of title 5, United States Code, 
but without regard to subsection (a)(3) of such section) 
and thereafter shall issue an order, based upon findings 
of fact, vacating, affirming, modifying, or terminating the 
Secretary’s order. The Commission may not grant tem-
porary relief from the issuance of any order under sub-
section (a). 
‘‘(2) The Commission shall take whatever action is 
necessary to expedite proceedings under this subsection. 
‘‘(e) The Secretary may institute a civil action for re-
lief, including a permanent or temporary injunction, re-
straining order, or any other appropriate order in the dis-
trict court of the United States for the district in which 
a place of employment is located or in which the employer 
has his principal office, whenever such employer or his 
agent violates or fails or refuses to comply with any order 
or decision issued under this section.’’. 
(b) PENALTIES.—Section 17 of such Act is amended 
by redesignating subsections (h) through (l) as subsections 
(i) through (m), respectively, and by inserting after sub-
section (g) the following: 
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