South Dakota Codified Laws 58-20-21. Annual workplace safety review services–Recommendations for improved safety–Increased premiums
Any insurer writing workers’ compensation insurance in this state shall offer to conduct or contract for annual workplace safety review services, including review reports with written recommendations for improved safety procedures, to each of its insureds whose policy premium is five thousand dollars or more, unless the employer has five or fewer employees. No written recommendation prepared by an insurer pursuant to this section is subject to discovery or disclosure under chapter 15-6 or any other provision of law or admissible as evidence in any action of any kind in any court or arbitration forum. However, the recommendation may be disclosed to a subsequent insurer of the employer. Compliance with this section does not constitute an undertaking by an insurer to supplant any responsibility its insured may otherwise have for workplace safety. Any employer subject to this section shall have workplace safety reviews conducted by the employer’s insurer at least once every three years. If an insurer makes a written recommendation to correct a safety deficiency pursuant to § 58-20-21, including failure to post safety posters as required by § 62-2-11, and the deficiency has not been corrected at the time of a subsequent safety review, the insured is subject to an appropriate increase in premium as determined by the insurer subject to the approval of the director. The insurer is not responsible for inspecting for compliance with federal or state safety laws or regulations.
Terms Used In South Dakota Codified Laws 58-20-21
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- State: when used in context signifying a jurisdiction other than the State of South Dakota, a state, the District of Columbia, a territory, commonwealth, or possession of the United States of America, or a province of the Dominion of Canada. See South Dakota Codified Laws 58-1-2
- written: include typewriting and typewritten, printing and printed, except in the case of signatures, and where the words are used by way of contrast to typewriting and printing. See South Dakota Codified Laws 2-14-2
Source: SL 1992, ch 364, § 8; SL 1993, ch 362, § 1; SL 1997, ch 292, § 1; SL 2004, ch 306, § 3.