130th Ohio General Assembly
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S. B. No. 72  As Introduced
As Introduced

128th General Assembly
Regular Session
2009-2010
S. B. No. 72


Senator Patton 

Cosponsor: Senator Hughes 



A BILL
To enact section 3733.60 of the Revised Code to require railroad companies to maintain certain meeting, housing, and food service facilities according to certain specifications.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That section 3733.60 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:
Sec. 3733.60.  (A) As used in this section:
(1) "Mobile camp" means a temporary location where maintenance of way employees are housed in camp cars, bunk cars, sleeping cars, outfit cars, or trailers.
(2) "Maintenance of way employee" means a person who is employed to maintain railroad rights-of-way.
(3) "Permanent assembly point" means a location where maintenance of way employees meet for work at the beginning and end of each work day.
(4) "Board of health" means a board of health of a city or general health district or the authority having the duties of a board of health under section 3709.05 of the Revised Code.
(5) "Employee organization" has the same meaning as in section 4121.01 of the Revised Code.
(B) Any railroad company that operates in this state shall provide and adequately maintain for the use of its employees at least one heated room at all terminals and headquarters located in this state that are operated by that railroad company. Each room shall contain all of the following:
(1) A washbasin, determined by the director of health to be adequate;
(2) A shower or bath;
(3) An indoor toilet;
(4) A minimum of one locker for each employee of sufficient size to store the employee's clothing.
(C) Any railroad company that operates in this state shall maintain at all permanent assembly points located in this state a supply of drinking water that is determined by the director to be sufficient for all employees and that is dispensed in a sanitary manner.
(D) Any railroad company that houses maintenance of way employees in a mobile camp in this state shall provide and adequately maintain that mobile camp with all of the following:
(1) Heat and air conditioning in each car;
(2) Washbasins, showers, and indoor toilets determined by the director to be adequate in number;
(3) Lockers for the clothing and personal belongings of maintenance of way employees, determined by the director to be adequate in number;
(4) A supply of potable water dispensed in a sanitary manner for drinking, bathing, cooking, and cleaning cooking utensils that is determined by the director to be adequate;
(5) Minimum floor space of eighty square feet per occupant using single beds with a maximum of four occupants per car.
(E) Any railroad company that houses maintenance of way employees in this state shall install and permanently wire, with battery backup, an emergency alert weather radio, a smoke detector, and a carbon monoxide detector and shall post emergency evacuation instructions specific to the housing location in each car.
(F)(1) Any railroad company that houses maintenance of way employees in mobile camps in this state shall notify the board of health with jurisdiction in the area where the mobile camp is located of the existence of the mobile camp within two business days after the employees arrive at the mobile camp. In addition, the railroad company shall request and permit inspection of the camp and the cars by an authorized representative of the board of health to ensure that the camp and cars are sanitary and healthful for the maintenance of way employees and for the local community.
(2) Prior to any inspection, the railroad company shall pay to the board of health the fee prescribed by division (L)(3) of this section. The board of health shall deposit the fee in the district health fund of the board of health.
(G) Notwithstanding section 3717.42 of the Revised Code, no railroad company shall operate any commissary car or cook car, alone or in conjunction with a mobile camp, for the preparation and service of food for maintenance of way employees, without a mobile food service operation license issued under section 3717.43 of the Revised Code.
(H) No railroad company shall fail to comply with this section.
(I) The director may investigate any railroad company that allegedly has violated this section. If after the investigation, the director determines that reasonable evidence exists that a railroad company has violated this section, within seven days after that determination, the director shall send a written notice to the railroad company and the company's maintenance of way employees in the same manner as prescribed in section 119.07 of the Revised Code, except that the notice shall specify that a hearing will be held and specify the date, time, and place of the hearing.
(J) The director shall hold a hearing regarding an alleged violation of this section in the same manner prescribed for an adjudication hearing under section 119.09 of the Revised Code. If the director determines after the hearing that a violation has occurred, the director shall issue a report and recommendations to the railroad company that includes all of the following information:
(1) The time any examination regarding the alleged violation was made by a local department of health or by the director;
(2) The exact location, character, and extent of the violation;
(3) Reasonable changes, improvements, additions, buildings, or accommodations necessary to remedy the violation;
(4) A reasonable time within which the changes, improvements, additions, buildings, or accommodations must be completed.
(K) If the railroad company does not complete the recommendations issued to the railroad company pursuant to division (J) of this section, the director, through the attorney general or an appropriate prosecuting attorney, may apply to an appropriate court for an order enjoining the violation of this section. On the filing of a verified petition, the court shall conduct a hearing on the petition and give the same preference to the proceeding as is given to all proceedings under Chapter 119. of the Revised Code, irrespective of the position of the proceeding on the court's calendar. On a showing that the railroad company violated this section, the court shall grant an injunction or other order as appropriate.
(L) The director shall adopt rules to administer this section, including all of the following rules:
(1) Rules regulating the sanitary conditions, operation, and facilities of mobile camps;
(2) Rules determining standards of adequacy or sufficiency for the purposes of divisions (B), (C), and (D) of this section;
(3) A rule specifying a fee for inspection pursuant to division (F) of this section and an additional fee for any mobile camp that houses more than fifty occupants. The additional fee shall be incrementally increased for each additional group of fifty occupants. For purposes of calculating the additional fee when the number of occupants is not evenly divisible by fifty, the number of occupants shall be rounded up to the next higher increment of fifty.
(4) Rules allowing a board of health to conduct an inspection pursuant to division (F) of this section along with the director, a representative of the appropriate employee organization, or a representative of the railroad company.
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