West Virginia Code
Article 3. Safety and Welfare of Employees
§21-3-1. Employers to Safeguard Life, etc., of Employees; Reports and Investigations of Accidents; Orders of Commissioner

Every employer shall furnish employment which shall be reasonably safe for the employees therein engaged and shall furnish and use safety devices and safeguards, and shall adopt and use methods and processes reasonably adequate to render employment and the place of employment safe, and shall do every other thing reasonably necessary to protect the life, health, safety, and welfare of such employees: Provided, That as used in this section, the terms "safe" or "safety" as applied to any employment, place of employment, place of public assembly or public building, shall include, without being restricted hereby, conditions and methods of sanitation and hygiene reasonably necessary for the protection of the life, health, safety, or welfare of employees or the public.
Every employer and every owner of a place of employment, place of public assembly, or a public building, now or hereafter constructed, shall so construct, repair and maintain the same as to render it reasonably safe.
When an accident occurs in any place of employment or public institution which results in injury to any employee, the employer or owner of such place of employment or public institution, when the same shall come to his knowledge, shall provide the commissioner of labor the necessary information as to cause of the injury, on blanks furnished free of charge to the employer and prescribed by the commissioner of labor.
To carry out the provisions of this chapter the commissioner of labor shall have the power to investigate and prescribe that reasonable safety devices, safeguards, or other means of protection be adopted for the prevention of accidents in every employment or place of employment, and to make, modify, repeal, and enforce reasonable general orders, applicable to either employers or employees, or both, for the prevention of accidents.
All orders of the commissioner of labor shall be prima facie lawful and reasonable, and shall not be held invalid because of any technical omission, provided there is substantial compliance with the provisions of this chapter.

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