Maryland Del. Cheryl D. Glenn (D-Baltimore) has reintroduced legislation that would require contractors seeking to work on certain state projects to submit safety plans and would direct the state to ensure the plans are being followed, according to Safety+Health magazine.
Introduced Jan. 9, the bill (H.B. 24) also would require the commissioner of the state's Division of Labor and Industry "to develop a mechanism to assess the safety and health performance indicators used by contractors and subcontractors."
According to the bill, a contractor or subcontractor would need to complete a safety and health calculation worksheet within seven days of entering into a state contract valued at $100,000 or more and implement any additional required safety and health actions.
The bill's fiscal and policy note states: "The commissioner must investigate as necessary to ensure compliance with the bill and may enter a place of business or worksite to observe the safety and health measures in place, interview workers, and review and copy records necessary for determining compliance with the bill. If the commissioner determines after an investigation that a prospective bidder or offeror, contractor, or subcontractor has violated the bill's requirements, the commissioner must issue a citation and proposed order."
The Division of Labor and Industry would assess a maximum civil penalty of $5,000 for a first violation and $10,000 for each subsequent violation and could ban the vendor from working on public projects for two years.
Two previous attempts to pass similar legislation—H.B. 1510 in 2017 and H.B. 977 in 2016—received hearings before the Maryland House Economic Matters Committee. Glenn withdrew H.B. 1510 after an unfavorable report.
An attempt in 2015 (H.B. 404) did not get past the committee, and a Senate bill (S.B. 279) that same year did not get past the Finance Committee.
These attempts were prompted in part by Public Citizen's 2012 report, The Price of Inaction, which found injuries and fatalities on public and private construction projects cost the state nearly $713 million between 2008 and 2010. A follow-up report from Public Citizen in 2017, Take the High Road, examined the 158 contractors who worked on state projects worth at least $100,000 during a five-year period.
Public Citizen found OSHA cited 46 percent of the contractors for safety violations during the past decade, and 35 percent for "serious" violations.
"These severe injuries and fatalities are devastating for workers, their families and communities, and come with a significant price tag for the state's economy," Shanna Devine, worker health and safety advocate for Public Citizen's Congress Watch Division, said in a Jan. 23 press release. "It is time for the Maryland legislature to ensure that all contractors receiving taxpayer dollars have an appropriate plan guaranteeing every worker goes home at the end of his or her shift."
