Published: May 20, 2008 09:22 pm         

Union leader seeks drug-, alcohol-free workplace law

Wayne Rebich, an official of the Affiliated Trades Foundation, West Virginia State Building Trades, in Beckley, says construction workers must face some inherent dangers on the job, but one of those shouldn’t be having to work with those using illegal drugs and alcohol in the workplace.

“The state addressed this issue during the recent legislative session and passed the West Virginia Alcohol and Drug Free Workplace Act, which was Senate Bill 657,” Rebich said. “It requires contractors bidding state funded projects to have an alcohol and drug-free program in place effective July 1. Unfortunately, this new law only applies to state jobs and not county funded projects.”

Tuesday, Rebich asked the Raleigh County Commission during its regular meeting to adopt the state law and to require contractors bidding on county funded projects to have the same drug-free program in place required in the state code.

“I am introducing a resolution that the state law be adopted by Raleigh County and applied to any county commission funded projects,” Rebich said. “I have been to the Raleigh County Board of Education and asked them to also make this part of their policies.”

Rebich says a 2007 federal study, released by Substance, Abuse and Mental Health Administration, regarding alcohol and drug use in the workplace, showed that one in 12 full-time workers in the United States acknowledged using drugs in the past month.

“The rate for construction workers was 15.1 percent, which was the second highest of all industry groups,” he said.

Rebich said it only makes sense for the county to follow the state’s lead by adopting the policy.

“I think all counties and all municipalities should adopt it as well,” he said. “I will be going to other counties and municipalities and asking them to also adopt this policy.”

Bill Roop, the commission’s attorney, said his only concern is applying the policy to very small county projects.

“The cost to comply with the policy could adversely affect very small contractors on very small projects,” Roop said.

The commission asked Roop and Rebich to find out the average cost of drug and alcohol testing and to look at possible limitations in the policy regarding the size of the project or the number of employees involved on a particular project.

The issue will be discussed again at the June 3 at the commission office on Heber Street in Beckley.



In other commission news:

Jim Belcher with the Ghent Volunteer Fire Department requested $20,000 in funding to help the department purchase a replacement ambulance for one that was destroyed in the Ghent explosion at the Little General Store in January 2007. Belcher said the department is looking at a 2003 model that costs between $30,000 and $35,000. The commission unanimously approved $15,000 in funding for the replacement vehicle.

Unanimously approved the Emergency Operations Center’s new name for three new streets in the county. The commission approved Nap A Lot Lane in Crab Orchard, Joe Dirt Road in Lester and Peggy Lane in Daniels.

Set a public hearing for June 17 on the request to close Virginia Town Road in Eccles. Public notice of the hearing will be published in the newspaper, commissioners said.

Unanimously agreed to accept resumes for ATV trail ranger for the county’s new ATV trail system. Known as Burning Rock Off-Road Park and located on Beaver Coal Co. property off Tams Mountain near Sophia, the trail is set to open July 1, making some 80 miles available to ATV enthusiasts and another 20 miles designated as dirt bike trails.

Received advance notice on the Upper Guyandotte River watershed basin study from Sherrie Adams with the Army Corps of Engineers. The study will determine the need of future projects in the Upper Guyandotte River area. The study will only include a small portion of Raleigh County in the area of the Upper Guyandotte River and its tributaries.

Certified the land books of the county assessor.

County Administrator Dennis Sizemore said the county finished a canvass of last week’s primary election returns and there are no changes in the outcome of any of the races. He said there were some changes in vote counts due to provisional and absentee ballots, but the overall results remain unchanged. Sizemore said the county finished up the canvass on Monday and said the election results will be certified and declared official today.

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