Florida Senate - 2025                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 1212
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì691486LÎ691486                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  03/19/2025           .                                
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       The Committee on Banking and Insurance (DiCeglie) recommended
       the following:
       
    1         Senate Substitute for Amendment (907214) (with title
    2  amendment)
    3  
    4         Delete lines 30 - 146
    5  and insert:
    6  occupational disease, or suicide; conduct safety inspections of
    7  those firefighter employers;, and assist those firefighter
    8  employers in the development and implementation of firefighter
    9  employee safety and health programs. In addition, it is the
   10  intent of the Legislature that the division administer and
   11  enforce this part; provide assistance to firefighter employers,
   12  firefighter employees, and insurers; and enforce the policies,
   13  rules, and standards set forth in this part.
   14         Section 2. Present subsection (7) of section 633.508,
   15  Florida Statutes, is redesignated as subsection (8), a new
   16  subsection (7) is added to that section, and subsections (1) and
   17  (2) and paragraph (a) of present subsection (7) of that section
   18  are amended, to read:
   19         633.508 Workplace safety; rulemaking authority; division
   20  authority.—
   21         (1) The division shall assist in making the firefighter
   22  employee place of employment a safer place to work and
   23  decreasing the frequency and severity of on-the-job injuries and
   24  fatalities in such workplace.
   25         (2) The division shall have the authority to adopt rules
   26  for the purpose of ensuring safe working conditions for all
   27  firefighter employees by authorizing the enforcement of
   28  effective standards;, by assisting and encouraging firefighter
   29  employers to maintain safe working conditions, including, but
   30  not limited to, the establishment of a telehealth service that
   31  provides access to mental health care and suicide prevention
   32  specifically targeted to the unique needs of firefighters; and
   33  by providing for education and training in the field of safety,
   34  including training related to cancer and mental health risks
   35  within the fire service. Specifically, the division may by rule
   36  adopt the most current edition of all or any part of subparts C
   37  through T and subpart Z of 29 C.F.R. s. 1910; the National Fire
   38  Protection Association, Inc., Publication 1403, Standard on Live
   39  Fire Training Evolutions, as limited by subsection (6); and ANSI
   40  A 10.4.
   41         (7)The division shall adopt rules relating to all of the
   42  following:
   43         (a)Requiring firefighter employers to issue firefighting
   44  gear that does not contain chemical hazards or toxic substances
   45  if such gear becomes readily available on the commercial market.
   46  For purposes of this paragraph, the term “readily available”
   47  means that more than one manufacturer offers firefighting gear
   48  that does not contain chemical hazards or toxic substances. The
   49  division may recommend a phased approach in adopting rules for
   50  replacing firefighting gear that contains chemical hazards or
   51  toxic substances.
   52         (b)Requiring firefighter employers that issue firefighting
   53  gear that contains or is manufactured with chemical hazards or
   54  toxic substances to provide their firefighter employees notice
   55  that the firefighting gear issued contains or is manufactured
   56  with chemical hazards or toxic substances.
   57         (c)Encouraging firefighter employers to implement work
   58  schedules that do not require a firefighter employee’s normally
   59  scheduled shifts to exceed 42 hours per workweek.
   60         (8)(7) The department shall:
   61         (a) Investigate and prescribe by rule what safety devices,
   62  safeguards, or other means of protection must be adopted for the
   63  prevention of accidents and injuries in every firefighter
   64  employee place of employment or at any fire scene; determine
   65  what suitable devices, safeguards, or other means of protection
   66  for the prevention of occupational diseases must be adopted or
   67  followed in any or all such firefighter places of employment or
   68  at any emergency fire scene; and adopt reasonable rules for the
   69  prevention of accidents, the safety, protection, and security of
   70  firefighter employees engaged in interior firefighting, and the
   71  prevention of occupational diseases and fatalities.
   72         Section 3. Subsection (2) of section 633.520, Florida
   73  Statutes, is amended to read:
   74         633.520 Safety; firefighter employer responsibilities.—
   75         (2) The division shall adopt rules to establish:
   76         (a) Employers’ cancer prevention best practices related to
   77  personal protective equipment, decontamination, fire suppression
   78  equipment, education on chemical hazards and toxic substances in
   79  protective gear, and fire stations.
   80         (b)Employers’ mental health best practices related to
   81  resiliency, stress management, peer support, and access to
   82  mental health care.
   83         Section 4. Subsection (1), paragraph (b) of subsection (2),
   84  and paragraph (c) of subsection (3) of section 633.522, Florida
   85  Statutes, are amended to read:
   86         633.522 Firefighter employers; high frequency of work
   87  related injuries; corrective plans; workplace safety committees
   88  and coordinators; failure to implement a safety and health
   89  program; cancellation.—
   90         (1) The division shall develop a means to identify
   91  individual firefighter employers with a high frequency of
   92  firefighter employee work-related injuries, occupational
   93  disease, and suicide. The division shall conduct safety
   94  inspections of those firefighter employers so identified to
   95  ensure compliance with this part or the division’s rules and
   96  make recommendations based upon current safety and health
   97  practices and to assist such firefighter employers in reducing
   98  the number of work-related injuries, occupational disease, and
   99  suicide. The division may not assess penalties as a result of
  100  such inspections. Copies of any report made as the result of
  101  such an inspection shall be provided to the firefighter employer
  102  and its insurer. Firefighter employers shall submit a plan for
  103  the correction of any noncompliance issues to the division for
  104  approval in accordance with division rule. The division shall
  105  promptly review the plan submitted and approve or disapprove the
  106  plan within 60 days, or such plan shall be deemed approved. Upon
  107  approval by the division, the plan shall be implemented by the
  108  firefighter employer. If the plan is not submitted, does not
  109  provide corrective actions for all deficiencies, is not
  110  complete, or is not implemented, the fire service provider shall
  111  be subject to s. 633.526.
  112         (2) In order to promote health and safety in firefighter
  113  employee places of employment in this state:
  114         (b) Each firefighter employer of fewer than 20 firefighter
  115  employees with a high frequency or high severity of work-related
  116  injuries or fatalities, as identified by the division, shall
  117  establish and administer a workplace safety committee or
  118  designate a workplace safety coordinator who shall establish and
  119  administer workplace safety activities in accordance with rules
  120  adopted under this section.
  121         (3) The division shall adopt rules:
  122         (c) Prescribing the duties and functions of the workplace
  123  safety committee and workplace safety coordinator which include,
  124  but are not limited to:
  125         1. Establishing procedures for workplace safety inspections
  126  by the committee.
  127         2. Establishing procedures for investigating all workplace
  128  accidents, safety-related incidents, illnesses, and deaths.
  129         3. Evaluating accident prevention, and illness prevention,
  130  and suicide prevention programs.
  131         4. Prescribing guidelines for the training of safety
  132  committee members.
  133         Section 5. Section 633.526, Florida Statutes, is amended to
  134  read:
  135         633.526 Firefighter employer penalties.—If any firefighter
  136  employer violates or fails or refuses to comply with this part,
  137  or with any rule adopted by the division under such sections in
  138  accordance with chapter 120 for the prevention of injuries,
  139  accidents, or occupational diseases or with any lawful order of
  140  the division in connection with this part, or fails or refuses
  141  to furnish or adopt any safety device, safeguard, or other means
  142  of protection prescribed by division rule under this part for
  143  the prevention of accidents, injuries, fatalities, or
  144  occupational diseases, the division may:
  145  
  146  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  147  And the title is amended as follows:
  148         Delete lines 6 - 10
  149  and insert:
  150         of Financial Services to assist in decreasing the
  151         frequency and severity of fatalities; revising the
  152         division’s authority to adopt rules; requiring the
  153         division to adopt rules; defining the term “readily
  154         available”; authorizing the division to recommend a
  155         phased approach in adopting certain rules related to
  156         firefighting gear; amending s. 633.520, F.S.;
  157         requiring the division to adopt rules relating to
  158         education on chemical hazards and toxic substances in
  159         protective gear and mental health best