34:5A-3. Definitions
3. As used in this act:
a. "Chemical Abstracts Service number" means the unique identification number assigned by the Chemical Abstracts Service to chemicals.
b. "Chemical name" means the scientific designation of a chemical in accordance with the nomenclature system developed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry or the Chemical Abstracts Service rules of nomenclature.
c. "Common name" means any designation or identification such as a code name, code number, trade name, brand name or generic name used to identify a chemical other than by its chemical name.
d. "Container" means a receptacle used to hold a liquid, solid, or gaseous substance, including, but not limited to, bottles, pipelines, bags, barrels, boxes, cans, cylinders, drums, cartons, vessels, vats, and stationary or mobile storage tanks. "Container" shall not include process containers.
e. "Council" means the Right to Know Advisory Council created pursuant to section 18 of this act.
f. "County health department" means a county health agency established pursuant to P.L.1975, c.329 (C.26:3A2-1 et seq.), or the office of a county clerk in a county which has not established a department.
g. "Employee representative" means a certified collective bargaining agent or an attorney whom an employee authorizes to exercise his rights to request information pursuant to the provisions of this act, or a parent or legal guardian of a minor employee.
h. "Employer" means any person or corporation in the State engaged in business operations which has a Standard Industrial Classification, as designated in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual prepared by the federal Office of Management and Budget, within the following Major Group Numbers, Group Numbers, or Industry Numbers, as the case may be, except as otherwise provided herein: Major Group Number 07 (Agricultural Services), only Industry Number 0782--Lawn and garden services; Major Group Numbers 20 through 39 inclusive (manufacturing industries); Major Group Number 45 (Transportation by Air), only Industry Number 4511--Air Transportation, certified carriers, and Group Number 458--Air Transportation Services; Major Group Number 46 (Pipelines, Except Natural Gas); Major Group Number 47 (Transportation Services), only Group Numbers 471--Freight Forwarding, 474--Rental of Railroad Cars, and 478--Miscellaneous Services Incidental to Transportation; Major Group Number 48 (Communication), only Group Numbers 481--Telephone Communication, and 482--Telegraph Communication; Major Group Number 49 (Electric, Gas and Sanitary Services); Major Group Number 50 (Wholesale Trade--Durable Goods), only Industry Numbers 5085--Industrial Supplies, 5087--Service Establishment Equipment and Supplies, and 5093--Scrap and Waste Materials; Major Group Number 51 (Wholesale trade, nondurable goods), only Group Numbers 512--Drugs, Drug Proprietaries and Druggist's Sundries, 516--Chemicals and Allied Products, 517--Petroleum and petroleum products, 518--Beer, Wine and Distilled Alcoholic Beverages, and 519--Miscellaneous Nondurable Goods; Major Group Number 55 (Automobile Dealers and Gasoline Service Stations), only Group Numbers 551--Motor Vehicle Dealers (New and Used), 552--Motor Vehicle Dealers (Used only), and 554--Gasoline Service Stations; Major Group Number 72 (Personal Services), only Industry Numbers 7216--Dry Cleaning Plants, Except Rug Cleaning, 7217--Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning, and 7218--Industrial Launderers; Major Group Number 73 (Business Services), only Industry Number 7397 Commercial testing laboratories; Major Group Number 75 (automotive repair, services, and garages), only Group Number 753--Automotive Repair Shops; Major Group Number 76 (miscellaneous repair services), only Industry Number 7692--Welding Repair; Major Group Number 80 (health services), only Group Number 806--Hospitals; and Major Group Number 82 (educational services), only Group Numbers 821--Elementary and Secondary Schools and 822--Colleges and Universities, and Industry Number 8249--Vocational Schools. Except for the purposes of section 26 of this act, "employer" means the State and local governments, or any agency, authority, department, bureau, or instrumentality thereof, or any non-profit, non-public school, college or university.
i. "Environmental hazardous substance" means any substance on the environmental hazardous substance list.
j. "Environmental hazardous substance list" means the list of environmental hazardous substances developed by the Department of Environmental Protection pursuant to section 4 of this act.
k. "Environmental survey" means a written form prepared by the Department of Environmental Protection and transmitted to an employer, on which the employer shall provide certain information concerning each of the environmental hazardous substances at his facility, including, but not limited to, the following:
(1) The chemical name and Chemical Abstracts Service number of the environmental hazardous substance;
(2) A description of the use of the environmental hazardous substance at the facility;
(3) The quantity of the environmental hazardous substance produced at the facility;
(4) The quantity of the environmental hazardous substance brought into the facility;
(5) The quantity of the environmental hazardous substance consumed at the facility;
(6) The quantity of the environmental hazardous substance shipped out of the facility as or in products;
(7) The maximum inventory of the environmental hazardous substance stored at the facility, the method of storage, and the frequency and methods of transfer;
(8) The total stack or point-source emissions of the environmental hazardous substance;
(9) The total estimated fugitive or nonpoint-source emissions of the environmental hazardous substance;
(10) The total discharge of the environmental hazardous substance into the surface or groundwater, the treatment methods, and the raw wastewater volume and loadings;
(11) The total discharge of the environmental hazardous substance into publicly owned treatment works;
(12) The quantity, and methods of disposal, of any wastes containing an environmental hazardous substance, the method of on-site storage of these wastes, the location or locations of the final disposal site for these wastes, and the identity of the hauler of the wastes;
(13) The total quantity of environmental hazardous substances generated at the facility, including hazardous substances generated as nonproduct output;
(14) The quantity of environmental hazardous substances recycled on-site and off-site; and
(15) Information pertaining to pollution prevention activities at the facility.
As used in this subsection, "pollution prevention" and "nonproduct output" shall have the same meaning as set forth in section 3 of P.L.1991, c.235 (C.13:1D-37).
l. "Facility" means the building, equipment and contiguous area at a single location used for the conduct of business. Except for the purposes of subsection c. of section 13, section 14, and subsection b. of section 25 of this act, "facility" shall not include a research and development laboratory.
m. "Hazardous substance" means any substance, or substance contained in a mixture, included on the workplace hazardous substance list developed by the Department of Health pursuant to section 5 of this act, introduced by an employer to be used, studied, produced, or otherwise handled at a facility. "Hazardous substance" shall not include:
(1) Any article containing a hazardous substance if the hazardous substance is present in a solid form which does not pose any acute or chronic health hazard to an employee exposed to it;
(2) Any hazardous substance constituting less than 1% of a mixture unless the hazardous substance is present in an aggregate amount of 500 pounds or more at a facility;
(3) Any hazardous substance which is a special health hazard substance constituting less than the threshold percentage established by the Department of Health for that special health hazard substance when present in a mixture; or
(4) Any hazardous substance present in the same form and concentration as a product packaged for distribution and use by the general public to which an employee's exposure during handling is not significantly greater than a consumer's exposure during the principal use of the toxic substance.
n. "Hazardous substance fact sheet" means a written document prepared by the Department of Health for each hazardous substance and transmitted by the department to employers pursuant to the provisions of this act, which shall include, but not be limited to, the following information:
(1) The chemical name, the Chemical Abstracts Service number, the trade name, and common names of the hazardous substance;
(2) A reference to all relevant information on the hazardous substance from the most recent edition of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances;
(3) The hazardous substance's solubility in water, vapor pressure at standard conditions of temperature and pressure, and flash point;
(4) The hazard posed by the hazardous substance, including its toxicity, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, teratogenicity, flammability, explosiveness, corrosivity and reactivity, including specific information on its reactivity with water;
(5) A description, in nontechnical language, of the acute and chronic health effects of exposure to the hazardous substance, including the medical conditions that might be aggravated by exposure, and any permissible exposure limits established by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration;
(6) The potential routes and symptoms of exposure to the hazardous substance;
(7) The proper precautions, practices, necessary personal protective equipment, recommended engineering controls, and any other necessary and appropriate measures for the safe handling of the hazardous substance, including specific information on how to extinguish or control a fire that involves the hazardous substance; and
(8) The appropriate emergency and first aid procedures for spills, fires, potential explosions, and accidental or unplanned emissions involving the hazardous substance.
o. "Label" means a sign, emblem, sticker, or marker affixed to or stenciled onto a container listing the information required pursuant to section 14 of this act.
p. "Mixture" means a combination of two or more substances not involving a chemical reaction.
q. "Process container" means a container, excluding a pipeline, the content of which is changed frequently; a container of 10 gallons or less in capacity, into which substances are transferred from labeled containers, and which is intended only for the immediate use of the employee who performs the transfer; a container on which a label would be obscured by heat, spillage or other factors; or a test tube, beaker, vial, or other container which is routinely used and reused.
r. "Research and development laboratory" means a specially designated area used primarily for research, development, and testing activity, and not primarily involved in the production of goods for commercial sale, in which hazardous substances or environmental hazardous substances are used by or under the direct supervision of a technically qualified person.
s. "Special health hazard substance" means any hazardous substance on the special health hazard substance list.
t. "Special health hazard substance list" means the list of special health hazard substances developed by the Department of Health pursuant to section 5 of this act for which an employer may not make a trade secret claim.
u. "Trade secret" means any formula, plan, pattern, process, production data, information, or compilation of information, which is not patented, which is known only to an employer and certain other individuals, and which is used in the fabrication and production of an article of trade or service, and which gives the employer possessing it a competitive advantage over businesses who do not possess it, or the secrecy of which is certified by an appropriate official of the federal government as necessary for national defense purposes. The chemical name and Chemical Abstracts Service number of a substance shall be considered a trade secret only if the employer can establish that the substance is unknown to competitors. In determining whether a trade secret is valid pursuant to section 15 of this act, the Department of Health, or the Department of Environmental Protection, as the case may be, shall consider material provided by the employer concerning (1) the extent to which the information for which the trade secret claim is made is known outside the employer's business; (2) the extent to which the information is known by employees and others involved in the employer's business; (3) the extent of measures taken by the employer to guard the secrecy of the information; (4) the value of the information, to the employer or the employer's competitor; (5) the amount of effort or money expended by the employer in developing the information; and (6) the ease or difficulty with which the information could be disclosed by analytical techniques, laboratory procedures, or other means.
v. "Trade secret registry number" means a code number temporarily or permanently assigned to the identity of a substance in a container by the Department of Health pursuant to section 15 of this act.
w. "Trade secret claim" means a written request, made by an employer pursuant to section 15 of this act, to withhold the public disclosure of information on the grounds that the disclosure would reveal a trade secret.
x. "Workplace hazardous substance list" means the list of hazardous substances developed by the Department of Health pursuant to section 5 of this act.
y. "Workplace survey" means a written document, prepared by the Department of Health and completed by an employer pursuant to this act, on which the employer shall report each hazardous substance present at his facility.
L.1983,c.315,s.3; amended 1985,c.543; 1991,c.25; 1991,c.235,s.17.
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Last modified: October 11, 2016