2023 New Hampshire Revised Statutes › Title XXIII - Labor › Chapter 281-A - Workers' Compensation › Section 281-A:64 - Safety Provisions; Administrative Penalty.

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. For the purposes of this section, "employer" shall include railroads, even if the employees of such railroads receive compensation for work injuries under federal law rather than RSA 281-A.
II. All employers with 15 or more employees shall prepare, with the assistance of the commissioner, a current written safety program and file this program with the commissioner. After a written safety program has been filed, the program shall be reviewed and updated by the employer at least every 2 years. 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. Where the employer is a public school district, administrative unit, or chartered public school, the safety program shall contain a plan for responding to violent acts committed by students against employees, volunteers, and visitors.
III. Every employer of 15 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. For any public school district, administrative unit, or chartered public school, the joint loss management committee shall also address protocols for employees to follow in relation to workplace violence, including training. The department of labor shall adopt rules, pursuant to RSA 541-A, relative to safety programs, joint loss management committees, and employee safety in public schools.
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 15 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 $250 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 deposited in the department of labor restricted fund established pursuant to RSA 273:1-b.
IX. [Repealed.]
Source.
1990, 254:36. 1994, 3:19. 1997, 343:9, 10, eff. Jan. 1, 1998. 2010, 134:1, eff. July 14, 2010. 2012, 144:1, 2, 4, I, eff. Jan. 1, 2013. 2019, 134:20, eff. June 25, 2019; 346:142, eff. July 1, 2019. 2020, 38:11, eff. Sept. 27, 2020.