Division of Labor and Industry

 

MOSH Instruction 07-07 - Maryland Occupational Safety and Health (MOSH) -

 
To: All MOSH Compliance Personnel
   
From: Roger Campbell, Assistant Commissioner, MOSH
 
Effective Date: October 1, 2007
 
Reference: Clean Indoor Act of 2007
MOSH Standards Notice 07-1
 
Cancellation: MOSH Memorandum 01-6 and MOSH Memorandum dated July 18, 1995
Subject: Notice of Emergency Action [07-275-E] COMAR 09.12.23 Prohibition on Smoking in an Indoor Place of Employment
 
 

ACTION:

The purpose of this instruction is to establish enforcement guidelines for MOSH compliance officers in protecting employees from involuntary exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in accordance with the Clean Indoor Air Act of 2007, under the authority of COMAR 09.12.23.

Effective immediately, when a programmed planned or unprogrammed inspection of an establishment is conducted where an apparent violation of COMAR 09.12.23 is observed and documented the following guidelines will be followed:

  1. For an employer's first violation(s) of the Act, the employer will be sent a letter signed by the Assistant Commissioner advising them of the violation(s). The letter is to be mailed with the Notification of Citation and Penalty if one is issued for other apparent violations observed during the inspection. See Appendix A for the standardized letter to be used.
     
  2. For an employer's second violation of the Act a citation with a civil penalty of $100.00 will be assessed, a citation with a civil penalty of $500.00 will be assessed for the third violation, and a citation with a civil penalty of $1000.00 will be assessed for each subsequent violation.
     
  3. Each violation of COMAR 09.12.23.03(A) will be considered Serious and each violation of COMAR 09.12.23.03(B) will be considered Other Than Serious. Where both COMAR 09.12.23.03(A) and (B) are cited only one penalty will be issued. The Other Than Serious penalty will be deleted per MOSH Instruction 98-3.
     
  4. The Act requires that enforcement efforts be reported to the General Assembly. Compliance officers will use the following codes in Optional Information on the OSHA-1 form when recommending an apparent violation of COMAR 09.12.23; or when conducting an Unprogrammed Inspection related to Smoking, but no apparent violation(s) was recommended:
 
Type ID Optional Information
S 15 NIC Letter
S 15 NIC
S 15 IC Unprogrammed
 
  1. In order to maintain consistency in enforcing COMAR 09.12.23 on construction sites, a building/structure under construction will be considered an indoor place of employment when any level or floor of the building/structure or portion thereof has four walls and a ceiling or roof installed (permanent or temporary) with or without windows or doors in place. In addition, a scaffold enclosed with plastic or other material will also be considered an indoor place of employment.

    On construction sites, the general contractor will be responsible for posting a sign prohibiting smoking at each entrance to the building/structure and each subcontractor will be responsible for posting sign(s) at entrances to their individual work areas, such as storage or office trailers.
     
  2. There is no exclusion from penalties for public sector employers in the Act.

Roger Campbell, Assistant Commissioner, MOSH

Attachment

cc: J. Ronald DeJuliis, Commissioner, Division of Labor and Industry
Craig D. Lowry, Deputy Commissioner, Division of Labor and Industry
Jonathan R. Krasnoff, Deputy Counsel, Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation
Office of Administrative Hearings

 
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