Section 6H.  The Department of Labor Standards shall adopt and enforce regulations that extend safety standards at least as stringent as the OSHA standards to the public sector and public sector employees with regard to (at minimum) the following work areas: trenching, excavation, and confined spaces work.  The Department shall develop a mandatory, annual safety-training schedule for public sector employees who may be expected to take part in these working conditions.   For the purpose of this section “public sector employees” is as defined in section 6 ¾, specifically “all state, local, governmental, public employees”.

The Department shall have the right to enter and inspect all places of employment, compel witnesses and evidence, and, issue fines and stop work orders for violations of its safety regulations.  No employee shall be penalized by an employer in any way as a result of such employee's filing of a complaint or otherwise providing notice to the department in regard to the occupational health and safety of such employee or others taking part in trenching, excavation, and confined spaces work. The department or the attorney general may enforce the provisions of this statute.