I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1459
To authorize the Secretary of Labor to establish voluntary protection
programs.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 15, 1999
Mr. PETRI (for himself and Mr. ANDREWS) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of Labor to establish voluntary
protection programs.
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 ‘‘Models of Safety and
Health Excellence Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
(1) since 1982 the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration has conducted voluntary pro-
tection programs designed to recognize excellence in
occupational safety and health;
(2) Such programs have fostered partnerships
between employers, employees and the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration to improve work-
place safety and health through the implementation
of effective safety and health programs;
(3) employers participating in such programs
provide their employees with a level of protection
that substantially exceeds the level of protection pro-
vided by compliance with the requirements of the
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970; and
(4) as a result of these efforts, employers par-
ticipating in such programs have experienced injury
and illness rates that are on average less than half
of their respective industry averages, sparing thou-
sands of America’s working families needless work-
place tragedies.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to—
(1) recognize the exemplary leadership of vol-
untary protection programs participants in improv-
ing occupational safety and health at workplaces;
(2) encourage other employers to adopt such
approaches to protect their workers; and
(3) to codify such programs to ensure that the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration con-
tinues to develop them in the future.
SEC. 3. VOLUNTARY PROTECTION PROGRAMS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Labor or the
Secretary’s authorized representative shall establish and
carry out voluntary protection programs (in this section
referred to as ‘‘programs’’) to promote and recognize the
achievement of worksites that demonstrate excellence in
workplace health and safety. The Secretary may choose,
in limited situations, to alter the application requirements
in order to expand the scope of worksites participating in
the programs to include nonstandard worksites such as
short term construction sites and mobile worksites. The
Secretary shall encourage the participants in the programs
to share occupational safety and health expertise with
other employers. The Secretary shall also encourage the
participation of small business (as that term is defined
by the Administrator of the Small Business Administra-
tion) in the programs by implementing outreach and as-
sistance initiatives in cooperation with program partici-
pants and shall develop program requirements that ad-
dress the needs of small businesses. The Secretary may
provide for the development of equivalent programs in
State plan States.
(b) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—A program shall in-
clude the following:
(1) APPLICATION.—Applications for participa-
tion in the programs must be signed by the work-
site’s management and to demonstrate sufficient em-
ployee support. Employers who volunteer under the
programs shall be required to submit an application
to the Secretary of Labor demonstrating that the
worksite, with respect to which the application is
made, meets such requirements as the Secretary
may require for participation in the program. Re-
quirements for excellence shall include demonstra-
tions of exemplary comprehensive programs to
assure—
(A) top level management leadership and
active and meaningful employee involvement;
(B) systematic assessment of hazards;
(C) comprehensive hazard prevention, miti-
gation, and control programs;
(D) employee safety and health training;
and
(E) safety and health program evaluation.
(2) ONSITE EVALUATIONS.—There shall be on-
site evaluations of each permanent worksite by rep-
resentatives of the Secretary and others from the
private and public sector as determined by the Sec-
retary.
(3) INFORMATION.—Employers who are ap-
proved by the Secretary for participation in a pro-
gram shall assure the Secretary that such informa-
tion as is necessary to evaluate the employer’s appli-
cation and continued participation in the program is
made available to the Secretary.
(4) REEVALUATIONS.—Periodic reevaluations
by the Secretary shall be required for continued par-
ticipation in a program.
(c) PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION.—
(1) EXEMPTIONS.—A worksite which has been
selected to participate in a program shall, while par-
ticipating in the program, be exempt from inspec-
tions or investigations under the Occupational Safe-
ty and Health Act of 1970, except that the exemp-
tion shall not apply to inspections or investigations
arising from employee complaints, fatalities, catas-
trophes, or significant toxic releases.
(2) PROGRAM
ACCEPTANCE
AND
CONTINUED
PARTICIPATION.—Decisions 
regarding 
acceptance
into the program and continued participation in the
program will be based on the applicant’s superior
safety and health performance, as determined by the