(1) The department may investigate the cause and circumstances of any accident involving loss of life, personal injury, or property damage when there is reasonable cause to believe that liquefied petroleum gas or equipment was involved. The department shall have the authority to take samples or evidence on or about the site of an accident in conjunction with an investigation. The department shall make a written report of each investigation it conducts. All information compiled by the department pursuant to an investigation is confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1) until the investigation is completed or ceases to be active. For purposes of this section, an investigation shall be considered “active” so long as the department is proceeding with reasonable dispatch and has a reasonable good faith belief that additional information is necessary and likely to be discovered which will allow the department to make a final determination of the cause and circumstances of the accident.

(2) The department shall have the authority to assist the state, county, municipal, and other local governments of this state and their agencies in promoting safety.

(3) The department shall have the authority to publish and disseminate information consistent with this chapter and the rules promulgated thereunder which it considers to be in the public interest for liquefied petroleum gas safety.

History.—ss. 5, 6, ch. 80-390; ss. 7, 19, ch. 81-175; s. 402, ch. 81-259; s. 2, ch. 81-318; ss. 1, 2, ch. 82-6; ss. 2, 3, ch. 87-34; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 2, ch. 92-6; s. 341, ch. 96-406.