101.055 Public employee safety and health.

467 words·~2 min read·/wi/chapter-101/101-055-2

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

(1)Intent. It is the intent of this section to give employees of the state, of any agency and of any political subdivision of this state rights and protections relating to occupational safety and health equivalent to those granted to employees in the private sector under the occupational safety and health act of 1970 ( 5 USC 5108 , 5314 , 5315 and 7902 ; 15 USC 633 and 636 ; 18 USC 1114 ; 29 USC 553 and 651 to 678 ; 42 USC 3142-1 and 49 USC 1421 ).

(2)Definitions. In this section, unless the context requires otherwise:

(a)“Agency” means an office, department, independent agency, authority, institution, association, society, or other body in state government created or authorized to be created by the constitution or any law, and includes the legislature and the courts.

(b)“Public employee” or “employee” means any employee of the state, of any agency or of any political subdivision of the state.

(c)“Public employee representative” or “employee representative” means an authorized collective bargaining agent, an employee who is a member of a workplace safety committee or any person chosen by one or more public employees to represent those employees.

(d)“Public employer” or “employer” means the state, any agency or any political subdivision of the state.

(3)Standards.

(a)The department shall adopt, by administrative rule, standards to protect the safety and health of public employees. The standards shall provide protection at least equal to that provided to private sector employees under standards promulgated by the federal occupational safety and health administration, but no rule may be adopted by the department which defines a substance as a “toxic substance” solely because it is listed in the latest printed edition of the national institute for occupational safety and health registry of toxic effects of chemical substances. The department shall revise the safety and health standards adopted for public employees as necessary to provide protection at least equal to that provided to private sector employees under federal occupational safety and health administration standards, except as otherwise provided in this paragraph. Notwithstanding ss. 35.93 and 227.21 , if the standards adopted by the department are identical to regulations adopted by a federal agency, the standards need not be published in full in the Wisconsin administrative code and register as provided in ss. 35.93 and 227.21 if the identical federal regulations are made available to the public at a reasonable cost and promulgated in accordance with ch. 227 , except s. 227.21 . The department may provide to the legislative reference bureau one or more Web addresses to provide electronic access to any standards adopted under this paragraph for publication in conjunction with the publication of the Wisconsin administrative code and register under s. 35.93 .