§ 28-21-3. Employer notice requirements - Chemical identification lists. (a)(1) Each employer shall obtain and maintain chemical identification lists containing the following information with regard to the chemical substances:

(i) The common and trade names of all designated substances present in the workplace in alphabetical order, cross referenced to their chemical names;

(ii) For mixtures, the list shall contain the chemical and/or trade names of any mixture that contains designated substances present in amounts greater than one percent (1%) of a volume of more than two (2) gallons or ten (10) pounds within the workplace except in the case of carcinogens, mutagen, or teratogen which shall be reported if they are present in amounts of one part per ten thousand (10,000) by volume or greater; and, provided, that nothing contained in this subdivision precludes the director of labor and training from establishing more stringent standards pursuant to rules and regulations in conformity with the Administrative Procedures Act, chapter 35 of title 42.

(2) The chemical identification list shall include the individual designated substances present in the mixture except as provided in § 28-21-10.

(b) Each employer shall obtain a material safety data sheet for each designated substance or mixture containing the designated substance that must conform to the federal occupational safety and health administration regulations on preparing material safety data sheets, 29 CFR 1910.1200(g).

(c) Upon being advised by an employer that the employer has made efforts to obtain material safety data sheets or other information necessary to determine whether a substance which is in the employer's workplace is, may be, or may contain a designated substance, which efforts are documented and include, but are not limited to, a certified letter to the manufacturer, supplier, and/or distributor of the substance, and which efforts have resulted in failure to obtain the necessary information, the employer shall advise the department of labor and training of the failure within forty-five (45) days of the date the information was originally requested by the employer. The department of labor and training shall make demand of the manufacturer for the requested information, and shall notify the manufacturer that the manufacturer will be prohibited from selling or distributing the substance to any employer in Rhode Island unless the manufacturer supplies the information within ninety (90) days from the date the employer first requested the information. In the case of a mixture, the department of labor and training shall grant a variance to the employer which shall extend the above time period to one hundred eighty (180) days. The department of labor and training will make every effort to assist the employer in obtaining the necessary information. Until the necessary information is forthcoming from the manufacturer or otherwise obtained, the employer shall treat the mixture for which it has not received or developed the necessary information as a designated substance, until proven otherwise, and will protect employees accordingly, which protection shall include the listing of the mixture as a designated substance.

(d) Each employer covered by this chapter shall annually submit to the department of labor and training:

(1) An updated chemical identification list;

(2) Documentation detailing the nature of training provided employees as called for in § 28-21-9. The documentation shall be in a standardized form determined by the department.

History of Section. (P.L. 1989, ch. 542, § 95.)