A. The board shall promulgate regulations that are and will continue to be at least as effective as standards promulgated pursuant to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to prevent or abate detriment to the health and safety of employees. In adopting, amending and repealing its regulations, the board shall provide an opportunity for representatives of employers and employees affected by the regulations to be heard and shall give weight it deems appropriate to all relevant facts and circumstances presented at the public hearing, including but not limited to:

(1) character and degree of injury to or interference with the health and safety of employees proposed to be abated or prevented by the regulation;

(2) technical practicability and economic reasonableness of the regulation and the existence of alternatives to the prevention or abatement of detriment to the health and safety of employees proposed by the regulation; and

(3) the public interest, including the social and economic effects of work-related accidents, injuries and illnesses.

B. In promulgating regulations dealing with toxic materials or harmful physical agents, the board shall provide regulations that most adequately assure to the extent feasible, on the basis of the best available technology, that no employee will suffer material impairment of health or functional capacity even if the employee has regular exposure to the hazard dealt with by the regulations for a period of his working life. Whenever practicable, the regulation promulgated shall be expressed in terms of objective criteria and of the performance desired.

C. The regulation shall prescribe the use of labels or other appropriate forms of warning as are necessary to insure that employees are apprised of all hazards to which they are exposed, relevant symptoms and appropriate emergency treatment and proper conditions and precautions of safe use or exposure. Where appropriate, the standard shall also prescribe suitable protective equipment and control or technological procedures to be used in connection with the hazards and shall provide for monitoring or measuring employee exposure at such locations and intervals and in such manner as may be necessary for the protection of employees. In addition, where appropriate, any such standard shall prescribe the type and frequency of medical examinations or other tests which shall be made available, by the employer or at his cost, to employees exposed to the hazards in order to most effectively determine whether the health of the employees is adversely affected by the exposure. Cost of medical examinations for research as ordered by the secretary shall be paid for by the department. Results of examinations shall be made available to the secretary, to the employer and, upon the request of the employee, to the employee's physician. The board may make appropriate modifications in the foregoing requirements relating to the use of labels or other forms of warning, monitoring or measuring and medical examinations, as may be warranted by experience, information or medical or technological developments acquired subsequent to the promulgation of the relevant standard.

History: 1953 Comp., § 59-14-7, enacted by Laws 1972, ch. 63, § 7; 1975, ch. 290, § 5; 1993, ch. 322, § 6.

Cross references. — For exemption of environmental improvement board from authority of secretary of environment, see 9-7A-12 NMSA 1978.

For the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, see 29 U.S.C. § 651 et seq.

The 1993 amendment, effective April 8, 1993, substituted "secretary" for "director" and "department" for "agency" in the fourth sentence of Subsection C; substituted "secretary" for "director upon his request" in the fifth sentence of Subsection C; and made minor stylistic changes throughout the section.

The legislature's delegation of authority to the environmental improvement board to promulgate regulations addressing violence against convenience store workers does not violate the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers. N.M. Petroleum Marketers Assn. v. N.M. Envtl. Improvement Bd., 2007-NMCA-060, 141 N.M. 678, 160 P.3d 587.

The definitions of "convenience store" and "convenience goods" in the environmental improvement board regulations addressing violence against convenience store workers are not unconstitutionally vague. N.M. Petroleum Marketers Assn. v. N.M. Envtl. Improvement Bd., 2007-NMCA-060, 141 N.M. 678, 160 P.3d 587.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 2 Am. Jur. 2d Administrative Law § 152 et seq.

Economic feasibility as factor affecting validity of, or obligation of compliance with, standards established under Occupational Safety and Health Act (29 USCS § 651 et seq.), 68 A.L.R. Fed. 732.

73 C.J.S. Public Administrative Law and Procedure § 87 et seq.