REGULATION - WAREHOUSES

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WAREHOUSES (240 ILCS 45/) Warehouse Tornado Preparedness Act.

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Illinois Compiled Statutes (ILCS)

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    (240 ILCS 45/1)
    Sec. 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Warehouse Tornado Preparedness Act.
(Source: P.A. 104-262, eff. 8-15-25.)

    (240 ILCS 45/5)
    Sec. 5. Definitions. In this Act:
    "Warehouse" means a building in which warehouse workers perform their duties and goods are stored in industries defined by any of the following North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes, however such building is denominated:
        (1) 493 for Warehousing and Storage;
        (2) 423 for Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods;
        (3) 424 for Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods;
        (4) 454110 for Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order
    
Houses; or
        (5) 492110 for Couriers and Express Delivery Services.
    "Warehouse worker" means any person who spends a majority of the person's working hours working within a warehouse, regardless of that person's status as an employee or independent contractor or the existence or non-existence of any employment relationship between the operator or owner of the warehouse. "Warehouse worker" does not include a person who, due to the person's employment or any other reason, enters a warehouse irregularly, infrequently, or only for a short period of time.
(Source: P.A. 104-262, eff. 8-15-25.)

    (240 ILCS 45/10)
    Sec. 10. Tornado safety plan required. All operators of a warehouse within this State shall prepare a tornado safety plan for each warehouse they operate within 120 days after the effective date of this Act for each existing warehouse or, for warehouses opened on or after 120 days after the effective date of this Act, no later than 7 days after the warehouse becomes operational. Each plan shall be specific to the warehouse it was prepared for and must be reviewed and updated at least once per year or upon any significant change to the operations of the warehouse that affects the applicability or accuracy of the information in the plan. The operator of the warehouse should coordinate with the warehouse's local emergency services and disaster agency and fire department or fire protection district to create plans that, when implemented, will be consistent with the local jurisdiction's response activities. Copies of the plan and all updates made to the plan must be filed with the fire department or fire protection district in the jurisdiction in which the warehouse is located and the local emergency services and disaster agency in the jurisdiction in which the warehouse is located. The plan must, at a minimum, contain the following information:
        (1) A floor plan of the warehouse with emergency
    
exits, assembly points, shelter areas, and orienting landmarks clearly displayed.
        (2) A written description of the actions that
    
employees and supervisors are required to perform in the event of a tornado warning or other severe weather event.
        (3) A list of all emergency equipment stored in the
    
warehouse and the equipment's location and instructions on the use of the equipment.
        (4) A written description of the actions that
    
employees and supervisors are required to perform in the aftermath of a tornado or other severe weather event, including basic first aid procedures and guidelines for communications with other warehouse workers and first responders.
(Source: P.A. 104-262, eff. 8-15-25.)

    (240 ILCS 45/15)
    Sec. 15. Inclement weather risk reduction. Warehouse facilities constructed after the effective date of this Act must provide the means, through modification, installation, or demonstration via rational analysis, to meet a life-safety performance level for tornado loading that is equivalent to, or exceeds, the life-safety performance level for the most onerous of other building code-prescribed extreme environmental loading events, such as hurricane, wind, earthquake, fire, and flood. The evaluation may incorporate statistical analyses of published data sets for extreme load intensity versus probability of exceedance, such as ASCE/SEI 7-22 Appendix G; occupancy load; facility location; and building construction type and may follow non-prescriptive performance-based methods to achieve the desired level. In lieu of this risk-targeted approach, the evaluating design professional may elect to follow prescriptive methods as outlined in the Federal Emergency Management Agency standard P-431, Tornado Protection: Selecting Refuge Areas in Buildings and the Best Available Refuge Area Checklist to ensure that shelter areas designated in tornado safety plans are qualified as the best available refuge areas.
(Source: P.A. 104-262, eff. 8-15-25.)

    (240 ILCS 45/90)
    Sec. 90. (Amendatory provisions; text omitted).
(Source: P.A. 104-262, eff. 1-1-27; text omitted.)

    (240 ILCS 45/95)
    Sec. 95. (Amendatory provisions; text omitted).
(Source: P.A. 104-262, eff. 1-1-27; text omitted.)

    (240 ILCS 45/99)
    Sec. 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law, except that Sections 90 and 95 takes effect on January 1, 2027.
(Source: P.A. 104-262, eff. 8-15-25.)