6390. The manufacturer of any hazardous substance listed pursuant
to the provisions of Section 6380 shall prepare and provide its
direct purchasers of the hazardous substance with an MSDS containing
the information specified in Section 6391 which, to the best of the
manufacturer's knowledge, is current, accurate, and complete, based
on information then reasonably available to the manufacturer. For
purposes of this section, a substance, mixture, or product shall not
be considered a hazardous substance if present in a physical state,
volume, or concentration for which there is no valid and substantial
evidence that any adverse acute or chronic risk to human health may
occur from exposure. The manufacturer shall revise an MSDS on a
timely basis as appropriate to the importance of any new information
which would affect the contents of the existing MSDS, and in any
event within one year of such information becoming available to the
manufacturer. If the new information indicates significantly
increased risks to, or measures necessary to protect, employee
health, as compared to those stated on the MSDS previously provided,
the manufacturer shall provide such new information to persons who
have purchased the product directly from the manufacturer within the
last year.
6390.5. The manufacturer, importer, and distributor of any
hazardous substance, and the employer, shall label each container of
a hazardous substance in a manner consistent with the federal Hazard
Communication Standard (29 C.F.R. Sec. 1910.1200) and as set forth in
applicable occupational safety and health standards adopted by the
standards board.
6391. The information which manufacturers shall provide to their
purchasers pursuant to the provisions of Section 6390 shall include
the following, if pertinent:
(a) The chemical name, any common names, and the CAS number of the
hazardous substance.
(b) The hazards or other risks in the use of the hazardous
substance, including all of the following:
(1) The potential for fire, explosion, and reactivity.
(2) The acute and chronic health effects or risks from exposure.
(3) The potential routes of exposure and symptoms of overexposure.
(c) The hazards or other risks of exposure to the combustion
products of the hazardous substance.
(d) The proper precautions, handling practices, necessary personal
protective equipment, and other safety precautions in the use of or
exposure to the hazardous substance, and its combustion products.
(e) The emergency procedures for spills, fire, disposal, and first
aid.
(f) A description in lay terms, if not otherwise provided, on
either a separate sheet or with the body of the information specified
in this section, of the specific potential health risks posed by the
hazardous substance and its combustion products intended to alert
any person reading the information.
(g) The month and year that the information was compiled and, for
an MSDS issued after January 1, 1981, the name and address of the
manufacturer responsible for preparing the information.
6392. Provision of a federal Material Safety Data Sheet or
equivalent shall constitute prima facie proof of compliance with
Section 6390.
6393. The manufacturer shall be relieved of the obligation to
provide a specific purchaser of a hazardous substance with an MSDS
pursuant to Section 6390 if the manufacturer has a record of having
provided the specific purchaser with the most current version of the
MSDS, or if the product is one sold at retail and is incidentally
sold to an employer or the employer's employees, in the same form,
approximate amount, concentration, and manner as it is sold to
consumers, and, to the seller's knowledge, employee exposure to the
product is not significantly greater than the consumer exposure
occurring during the principal consumer use of the product. Except
for products so labeled, this section does not relieve the
manufacturer of the requirement to provide direct purchasers with
new, revised, or later information or an MSDS pursuant to Section
6390.
6394. The preparer of an MSDS shall provide the department with a
copy of the MSDS on each hazardous substance it manufactures. The
preparer may transmit the MSDS to the department in either paper or
electronic form. In the electronic filing of an MSDS, it is the
responsibility of the preparer to protect any trade secret
information contained in the MSDS during transmission to the
department. Upon receipt by the department of the MSDS, it is the
responsibility of the department to protect any trade secret
information.
6395. (a) The manufacturer may provide the information required by
Section 6390 on an entire product mixture, instead of on each
hazardous substance in it, when all of the following conditions
exist:
(1) Hazard test information exists on the mixture itself, or
adequate information exists to form a valid judgment of the hazardous
properties of the mixture itself and the MSDS indicates that the
information presented and the conclusions drawn are from some source
other than direct test data on the mixture itself, and that an MSDS
on each constituent hazardous substance identified on the MSDS is
available upon request.
(2) Provision of information on the mixture will be as effective
in protecting employee health as information on the ingredients.
(3) The hazardous substances in the mixture are identified on the
MSDS unless it is either unfeasible to describe all the ingredients
in the mixture or the identity of the ingredients is itself a valid
trade secret, in either case the reason why the hazardous substances
in the mixture are not identified shall be stated on the MSDS.
(b) A single mixture MSDS may be provided for more than one
formulation of a product mixture if the information provided pursuant
to Section 6390 does not vary for the formulation.
6396. (a) The Director of Industrial Relations shall protect from
disclosure any and all trade secrets coming into his or her
possession, as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 6254.7 of the
Government Code, when requested in writing or by appropriate stamping
or marking of documents by the manufacturer or producer of a
mixture.
(b) Any information reported to or otherwise obtained by the
Director of Industrial Relations, or any of his or her
representatives or employees, which is exempt from disclosure under
subdivision (a), shall not be disclosed to anyone except an officer
or employee of the state or of the United States of America, in
connection with the official duties of that officer or employee under
any law for the protection of health, or to contractors with the
state and their employees if in the opinion of the director the
disclosure is necessary and required for the satisfactory performance
of a contract for performance of work in connection with this act.
(c) Any officer or employee of the state, or former officer or
employee, who by virtue of that employment or official position has
obtained possession of or has access to material the disclosure of
which is prohibited by this section, and who, knowing that disclosure
of the material is prohibited, knowingly and willfully discloses the
material in any manner to any person not entitled to receive it, is
guilty of a misdemeanor. Any contractor with the state and any
employee of that contractor, who has been furnished information as
authorized by this section, shall be considered to be an employee of
the state for purposes of this section.
(d) Information certified to by appropriate officials of the
United States, as necessarily kept secret for national defense
purposes, shall be accorded the full protections against disclosure
as specified by that official or in accordance with the laws of the
United States.
(e) (1) The director, upon his or her own initiative, or upon
receipt of a request pursuant to the California Public Records Act,
(Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1
of the Government Code) for the release of data submitted and
designated as a trade secret by an employer, manufacturer, or
producer of a mixture, shall determine whether any or all of the data
so submitted are a properly designated trade secret.
(2) If the director determines that the data is not a trade
secret, the director shall notify the employer, manufacturer, or
producer of a mixture by certified mail.
(3) The employer, manufacturer, or producer of a mixture shall
have 15 days after receipt of notification to provide the director
with a complete justification and statement of the grounds on which
the trade secret privilege is claimed. This justification and
statement shall be submitted by certified mail.
(4) The director shall determine whether the data are protected as
a trade secret within 15 days after receipt of the justification and
statement, or if no justification and statement is filed, within 30
days of the original notice, and shall notify the employer or
manufacturer and any party who has requested the data pursuant to the
California Public Records Act of that determination by certified
mail. If the director determines that the data are not protected as a
trade secret, the final notice shall also specify a date, not sooner
than 15 days after the date of mailing of the final notice, when the
data shall be available to the public.
(5) Prior to the date specified in the final notice, an employer,
manufacturer, or producer of a mixture may institute an action in an
appropriate superior court for a declaratory judgment as to whether
the data are subjected to protection under subdivision (a).
(f) This section does not authorize a manufacturer to refuse to
disclose information required pursuant to this chapter to the
director.
6397. (a) Any person other than a manufacturer who sells a mixture
or any hazardous substance shall provide its direct purchasers of the
mixture or hazardous substance at the time of sale with a copy of
the most recent MSDS or equivalent information prepared and supplied
to the person pursuant to either Section 6390 or subdivision (b)
whenever it is foreseeable that the provisions of this chapter may
apply to the purchaser.
(b) Any person who produces a mixture may, for the purposes of
this section, prepare and use a mixture MSDS, subject to the
provisions of Section 6395.
(c) Any person subject to the provisions of subdivision (a) shall
be relieved of the obligation to provide a specific purchaser of a
hazardous substance with an MSDS if he or she has a record of having
provided the specific purchaser with the most recent version of the
MSDS, or if the product is one sold at retail and is incidentally
sold to an employer or the employer's employees, in the same form,
approximate amount, concentration, and manner as it is sold to
consumers, and, to the seller's knowledge, employee exposure to the
product is not significantly greater than the consumer exposure
occurring during the principal consumer use of the product.
6398. The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board shall
adopt a standard setting forth an employer's duties toward its
employees under this chapter, on or before July 1, 1981, consistent
with the following guidelines:
(a) An MSDS shall be available to an employee, collective
bargaining representative, or the employee's physician, on a timely
and reasonable basis, on substances in the workplace.
(b) Employers shall furnish employees who may be exposed to a
hazardous substance with information on the contents of the MSDS for
the hazardous substances or equivalent information, either in written
form or through training programs, which may be generic to the
extent appropriate and related to the job.
(c) Provision shall be made for employees to be informed of their
rights under this chapter and under the standard to be adopted.
6399. Upon request, the manufacturer of a hazardous substance or
the producer of a mixture who has produced a mixture MSDS pursuant to
the provisions of subdivision (b) of Section 6397 shall make
available to any employer, whose employees may be exposed to its
product in the workplace, an MSDS on its product. If the employer
does not already have an MSDS and has not already made written
inquiry within 12 months as to whether a substance or product is
subject to the requirements of this chapter or if the employer has
not already made written inquiry within 6 months as to whether any
new, revised, or later information has been issued for a hazardous
substance, the employer shall do so within seven working days of a
request to do so by an employee or employee's collective bargaining
representative or physician. The employer may adopt reasonable
procedures for acting upon such employee requests to avoid
interruption of normal work operations. The manufacturer or the
producer of a mixture MSDS pursuant to the provisions of Section 6397
shall answer such inquiries within 15 working days of their receipt,
stating that the substance or product is subject to the requirements
of this chapter and furnishing the most current MSDS or a statement
that the MSDS is under development and the estimated completion date,
or stating that it is not subject to the requirements of this
chapter, with a brief explanation of why the chapter is not
applicable. If an employer has not received a response from a
manufacturer within 25 working days of the date the request was made,
the employer shall send a copy of the request made of the
manufacturer to the director with the notation that no response has
been received.
6399.1. Compliance with regulations of the Director of Food and
Agriculture issued pursuant to Section 12981 of the Food and
Agricultural Code shall be deemed compliance with the obligations of
an employer toward his or her employees under this chapter.
6399.2. This article shall become operative 180 days after adoption
of the initial list of hazardous substances pursuant to Article 3
(commencing with Section 6380).
6390. The manufacturer of any hazardous substance listed pursuant
to the provisions of Section 6380 shall prepare and provide its
direct purchasers of the hazardous substance with an MSDS containing
the information specified in Section 6391 which, to the best of the
manufacturer's knowledge, is current, accurate, and complete, based
on information then reasonably available to the manufacturer. For
purposes of this section, a substance, mixture, or product shall not
be considered a hazardous substance if present in a physical state,
volume, or concentration for which there is no valid and substantial
evidence that any adverse acute or chronic risk to human health may
occur from exposure. The manufacturer shall revise an MSDS on a
timely basis as appropriate to the importance of any new information
which would affect the contents of the existing MSDS, and in any
event within one year of such information becoming available to the
manufacturer. If the new information indicates significantly
increased risks to, or measures necessary to protect, employee
health, as compared to those stated on the MSDS previously provided,
the manufacturer shall provide such new information to persons who
have purchased the product directly from the manufacturer within the
last year.
6390.5. The manufacturer, importer, and distributor of any
hazardous substance, and the employer, shall label each container of
a hazardous substance in a manner consistent with the federal Hazard
Communication Standard (29 C.F.R. Sec. 1910.1200) and as set forth in
applicable occupational safety and health standards adopted by the
standards board.
6391. The information which manufacturers shall provide to their
purchasers pursuant to the provisions of Section 6390 shall include
the following, if pertinent:
(a) The chemical name, any common names, and the CAS number of the
hazardous substance.
(b) The hazards or other risks in the use of the hazardous
substance, including all of the following:
(1) The potential for fire, explosion, and reactivity.
(2) The acute and chronic health effects or risks from exposure.
(3) The potential routes of exposure and symptoms of overexposure.
(c) The hazards or other risks of exposure to the combustion
products of the hazardous substance.
(d) The proper precautions, handling practices, necessary personal
protective equipment, and other safety precautions in the use of or
exposure to the hazardous substance, and its combustion products.
(e) The emergency procedures for spills, fire, disposal, and first
aid.
(f) A description in lay terms, if not otherwise provided, on
either a separate sheet or with the body of the information specified
in this section, of the specific potential health risks posed by the
hazardous substance and its combustion products intended to alert
any person reading the information.
(g) The month and year that the information was compiled and, for
an MSDS issued after January 1, 1981, the name and address of the
manufacturer responsible for preparing the information.
6392. Provision of a federal Material Safety Data Sheet or
equivalent shall constitute prima facie proof of compliance with
Section 6390.
6393. The manufacturer shall be relieved of the obligation to
provide a specific purchaser of a hazardous substance with an MSDS
pursuant to Section 6390 if the manufacturer has a record of having
provided the specific purchaser with the most current version of the
MSDS, or if the product is one sold at retail and is incidentally
sold to an employer or the employer's employees, in the same form,
approximate amount, concentration, and manner as it is sold to
consumers, and, to the seller's knowledge, employee exposure to the
product is not significantly greater than the consumer exposure
occurring during the principal consumer use of the product. Except
for products so labeled, this section does not relieve the
manufacturer of the requirement to provide direct purchasers with
new, revised, or later information or an MSDS pursuant to Section
6390.
6394. The preparer of an MSDS shall provide the department with a
copy of the MSDS on each hazardous substance it manufactures. The
preparer may transmit the MSDS to the department in either paper or
electronic form. In the electronic filing of an MSDS, it is the
responsibility of the preparer to protect any trade secret
information contained in the MSDS during transmission to the
department. Upon receipt by the department of the MSDS, it is the
responsibility of the department to protect any trade secret
information.
6395. (a) The manufacturer may provide the information required by
Section 6390 on an entire product mixture, instead of on each
hazardous substance in it, when all of the following conditions
exist:
(1) Hazard test information exists on the mixture itself, or
adequate information exists to form a valid judgment of the hazardous
properties of the mixture itself and the MSDS indicates that the
information presented and the conclusions drawn are from some source
other than direct test data on the mixture itself, and that an MSDS
on each constituent hazardous substance identified on the MSDS is
available upon request.
(2) Provision of information on the mixture will be as effective
in protecting employee health as information on the ingredients.
(3) The hazardous substances in the mixture are identified on the
MSDS unless it is either unfeasible to describe all the ingredients
in the mixture or the identity of the ingredients is itself a valid
trade secret, in either case the reason why the hazardous substances
in the mixture are not identified shall be stated on the MSDS.
(b) A single mixture MSDS may be provided for more than one
formulation of a product mixture if the information provided pursuant
to Section 6390 does not vary for the formulation.
6396. (a) The Director of Industrial Relations shall protect from
disclosure any and all trade secrets coming into his or her
possession, as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 6254.7 of the
Government Code, when requested in writing or by appropriate stamping
or marking of documents by the manufacturer or producer of a
mixture.
(b) Any information reported to or otherwise obtained by the
Director of Industrial Relations, or any of his or her
representatives or employees, which is exempt from disclosure under
subdivision (a), shall not be disclosed to anyone except an officer
or employee of the state or of the United States of America, in
connection with the official duties of that officer or employee under
any law for the protection of health, or to contractors with the
state and their employees if in the opinion of the director the
disclosure is necessary and required for the satisfactory performance
of a contract for performance of work in connection with this act.
(c) Any officer or employee of the state, or former officer or
employee, who by virtue of that employment or official position has
obtained possession of or has access to material the disclosure of
which is prohibited by this section, and who, knowing that disclosure
of the material is prohibited, knowingly and willfully discloses the
material in any manner to any person not entitled to receive it, is
guilty of a misdemeanor. Any contractor with the state and any
employee of that contractor, who has been furnished information as
authorized by this section, shall be considered to be an employee of
the state for purposes of this section.
(d) Information certified to by appropriate officials of the
United States, as necessarily kept secret for national defense
purposes, shall be accorded the full protections against disclosure
as specified by that official or in accordance with the laws of the
United States.
(e) (1) The director, upon his or her own initiative, or upon
receipt of a request pursuant to the California Public Records Act,
(Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1
of the Government Code) for the release of data submitted and
designated as a trade secret by an employer, manufacturer, or
producer of a mixture, shall determine whether any or all of the data
so submitted are a properly designated trade secret.
(2) If the director determines that the data is not a trade
secret, the director shall notify the employer, manufacturer, or
producer of a mixture by certified mail.
(3) The employer, manufacturer, or producer of a mixture shall
have 15 days after receipt of notification to provide the director
with a complete justification and statement of the grounds on which
the trade secret privilege is claimed. This justification and
statement shall be submitted by certified mail.
(4) The director shall determine whether the data are protected as
a trade secret within 15 days after receipt of the justification and
statement, or if no justification and statement is filed, within 30
days of the original notice, and shall notify the employer or
manufacturer and any party who has requested the data pursuant to the
California Public Records Act of that determination by certified
mail. If the director determines that the data are not protected as a
trade secret, the final notice shall also specify a date, not sooner
than 15 days after the date of mailing of the final notice, when the
data shall be available to the public.
(5) Prior to the date specified in the final notice, an employer,
manufacturer, or producer of a mixture may institute an action in an
appropriate superior court for a declaratory judgment as to whether
the data are subjected to protection under subdivision (a).
(f) This section does not authorize a manufacturer to refuse to
disclose information required pursuant to this chapter to the
director.
6397. (a) Any person other than a manufacturer who sells a mixture
or any hazardous substance shall provide its direct purchasers of the
mixture or hazardous substance at the time of sale with a copy of
the most recent MSDS or equivalent information prepared and supplied
to the person pursuant to either Section 6390 or subdivision (b)
whenever it is foreseeable that the provisions of this chapter may
apply to the purchaser.
(b) Any person who produces a mixture may, for the purposes of
this section, prepare and use a mixture MSDS, subject to the
provisions of Section 6395.
(c) Any person subject to the provisions of subdivision (a) shall
be relieved of the obligation to provide a specific purchaser of a
hazardous substance with an MSDS if he or she has a record of having
provided the specific purchaser with the most recent version of the
MSDS, or if the product is one sold at retail and is incidentally
sold to an employer or the employer's employees, in the same form,
approximate amount, concentration, and manner as it is sold to
consumers, and, to the seller's knowledge, employee exposure to the
product is not significantly greater than the consumer exposure
occurring during the principal consumer use of the product.
6398. The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board shall
adopt a standard setting forth an employer's duties toward its
employees under this chapter, on or before July 1, 1981, consistent
with the following guidelines:
(a) An MSDS shall be available to an employee, collective
bargaining representative, or the employee's physician, on a timely
and reasonable basis, on substances in the workplace.
(b) Employers shall furnish employees who may be exposed to a
hazardous substance with information on the contents of the MSDS for
the hazardous substances or equivalent information, either in written
form or through training programs, which may be generic to the
extent appropriate and related to the job.
(c) Provision shall be made for employees to be informed of their
rights under this chapter and under the standard to be adopted.
6399. Upon request, the manufacturer of a hazardous substance or
the producer of a mixture who has produced a mixture MSDS pursuant to
the provisions of subdivision (b) of Section 6397 shall make
available to any employer, whose employees may be exposed to its
product in the workplace, an MSDS on its product. If the employer
does not already have an MSDS and has not already made written
inquiry within 12 months as to whether a substance or product is
subject to the requirements of this chapter or if the employer has
not already made written inquiry within 6 months as to whether any
new, revised, or later information has been issued for a hazardous
substance, the employer shall do so within seven working days of a
request to do so by an employee or employee's collective bargaining
representative or physician. The employer may adopt reasonable
procedures for acting upon such employee requests to avoid
interruption of normal work operations. The manufacturer or the
producer of a mixture MSDS pursuant to the provisions of Section 6397
shall answer such inquiries within 15 working days of their receipt,
stating that the substance or product is subject to the requirements
of this chapter and furnishing the most current MSDS or a statement
that the MSDS is under development and the estimated completion date,
or stating that it is not subject to the requirements of this
chapter, with a brief explanation of why the chapter is not
applicable. If an employer has not received a response from a
manufacturer within 25 working days of the date the request was made,
the employer shall send a copy of the request made of the
manufacturer to the director with the notation that no response has
been received.
6399.1. Compliance with regulations of the Director of Food and
Agriculture issued pursuant to Section 12981 of the Food and
Agricultural Code shall be deemed compliance with the obligations of
an employer toward his or her employees under this chapter.
6399.2. This article shall become operative 180 days after adoption
of the initial list of hazardous substances pursuant to Article 3
(commencing with Section 6380).
6390. The manufacturer of any hazardous substance listed pursuant
to the provisions of Section 6380 shall prepare and provide its
direct purchasers of the hazardous substance with an MSDS containing
the information specified in Section 6391 which, to the best of the
manufacturer's knowledge, is current, accurate, and complete, based
on information then reasonably available to the manufacturer. For
purposes of this section, a substance, mixture, or product shall not
be considered a hazardous substance if present in a physical state,
volume, or concentration for which there is no valid and substantial
evidence that any adverse acute or chronic risk to human health may
occur from exposure. The manufacturer shall revise an MSDS on a
timely basis as appropriate to the importance of any new information
which would affect the contents of the existing MSDS, and in any
event within one year of such information becoming available to the
manufacturer. If the new information indicates significantly
increased risks to, or measures necessary to protect, employee
health, as compared to those stated on the MSDS previously provided,
the manufacturer shall provide such new information to persons who
have purchased the product directly from the manufacturer within the
last year.
6390.5. The manufacturer, importer, and distributor of any
hazardous substance, and the employer, shall label each container of
a hazardous substance in a manner consistent with the federal Hazard
Communication Standard (29 C.F.R. Sec. 1910.1200) and as set forth in
applicable occupational safety and health standards adopted by the
standards board.
6391. The information which manufacturers shall provide to their
purchasers pursuant to the provisions of Section 6390 shall include
the following, if pertinent:
(a) The chemical name, any common names, and the CAS number of the
hazardous substance.
(b) The hazards or other risks in the use of the hazardous
substance, including all of the following:
(1) The potential for fire, explosion, and reactivity.
(2) The acute and chronic health effects or risks from exposure.
(3) The potential routes of exposure and symptoms of overexposure.
(c) The hazards or other risks of exposure to the combustion
products of the hazardous substance.
(d) The proper precautions, handling practices, necessary personal
protective equipment, and other safety precautions in the use of or
exposure to the hazardous substance, and its combustion products.
(e) The emergency procedures for spills, fire, disposal, and first
aid.
(f) A description in lay terms, if not otherwise provided, on
either a separate sheet or with the body of the information specified
in this section, of the specific potential health risks posed by the
hazardous substance and its combustion products intended to alert
any person reading the information.
(g) The month and year that the information was compiled and, for
an MSDS issued after January 1, 1981, the name and address of the
manufacturer responsible for preparing the information.
6392. Provision of a federal Material Safety Data Sheet or
equivalent shall constitute prima facie proof of compliance with
Section 6390.
6393. The manufacturer shall be relieved of the obligation to
provide a specific purchaser of a hazardous substance with an MSDS
pursuant to Section 6390 if the manufacturer has a record of having
provided the specific purchaser with the most current version of the
MSDS, or if the product is one sold at retail and is incidentally
sold to an employer or the employer's employees, in the same form,
approximate amount, concentration, and manner as it is sold to
consumers, and, to the seller's knowledge, employee exposure to the
product is not significantly greater than the consumer exposure
occurring during the principal consumer use of the product. Except
for products so labeled, this section does not relieve the
manufacturer of the requirement to provide direct purchasers with
new, revised, or later information or an MSDS pursuant to Section
6390.
6394. The preparer of an MSDS shall provide the department with a
copy of the MSDS on each hazardous substance it manufactures. The
preparer may transmit the MSDS to the department in either paper or
electronic form. In the electronic filing of an MSDS, it is the
responsibility of the preparer to protect any trade secret
information contained in the MSDS during transmission to the
department. Upon receipt by the department of the MSDS, it is the
responsibility of the department to protect any trade secret
information.
6395. (a) The manufacturer may provide the information required by
Section 6390 on an entire product mixture, instead of on each
hazardous substance in it, when all of the following conditions
exist:
(1) Hazard test information exists on the mixture itself, or
adequate information exists to form a valid judgment of the hazardous
properties of the mixture itself and the MSDS indicates that the
information presented and the conclusions drawn are from some source
other than direct test data on the mixture itself, and that an MSDS
on each constituent hazardous substance identified on the MSDS is
available upon request.
(2) Provision of information on the mixture will be as effective
in protecting employee health as information on the ingredients.
(3) The hazardous substances in the mixture are identified on the
MSDS unless it is either unfeasible to describe all the ingredients
in the mixture or the identity of the ingredients is itself a valid
trade secret, in either case the reason why the hazardous substances
in the mixture are not identified shall be stated on the MSDS.
(b) A single mixture MSDS may be provided for more than one
formulation of a product mixture if the information provided pursuant
to Section 6390 does not vary for the formulation.
6396. (a) The Director of Industrial Relations shall protect from
disclosure any and all trade secrets coming into his or her
possession, as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 6254.7 of the
Government Code, when requested in writing or by appropriate stamping
or marking of documents by the manufacturer or producer of a
mixture.
(b) Any information reported to or otherwise obtained by the
Director of Industrial Relations, or any of his or her
representatives or employees, which is exempt from disclosure under
subdivision (a), shall not be disclosed to anyone except an officer
or employee of the state or of the United States of America, in
connection with the official duties of that officer or employee under
any law for the protection of health, or to contractors with the
state and their employees if in the opinion of the director the
disclosure is necessary and required for the satisfactory performance
of a contract for performance of work in connection with this act.
(c) Any officer or employee of the state, or former officer or
employee, who by virtue of that employment or official position has
obtained possession of or has access to material the disclosure of
which is prohibited by this section, and who, knowing that disclosure
of the material is prohibited, knowingly and willfully discloses the
material in any manner to any person not entitled to receive it, is
guilty of a misdemeanor. Any contractor with the state and any
employee of that contractor, who has been furnished information as
authorized by this section, shall be considered to be an employee of
the state for purposes of this section.
(d) Information certified to by appropriate officials of the
United States, as necessarily kept secret for national defense
purposes, shall be accorded the full protections against disclosure
as specified by that official or in accordance with the laws of the
United States.
(e) (1) The director, upon his or her own initiative, or upon
receipt of a request pursuant to the California Public Records Act,
(Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1
of the Government Code) for the release of data submitted and
designated as a trade secret by an employer, manufacturer, or
producer of a mixture, shall determine whether any or all of the data
so submitted are a properly designated trade secret.
(2) If the director determines that the data is not a trade
secret, the director shall notify the employer, manufacturer, or
producer of a mixture by certified mail.
(3) The employer, manufacturer, or producer of a mixture shall
have 15 days after receipt of notification to provide the director
with a complete justification and statement of the grounds on which
the trade secret privilege is claimed. This justification and
statement shall be submitted by certified mail.
(4) The director shall determine whether the data are protected as
a trade secret within 15 days after receipt of the justification and
statement, or if no justification and statement is filed, within 30
days of the original notice, and shall notify the employer or
manufacturer and any party who has requested the data pursuant to the
California Public Records Act of that determination by certified
mail. If the director determines that the data are not protected as a
trade secret, the final notice shall also specify a date, not sooner
than 15 days after the date of mailing of the final notice, when the
data shall be available to the public.
(5) Prior to the date specified in the final notice, an employer,
manufacturer, or producer of a mixture may institute an action in an
appropriate superior court for a declaratory judgment as to whether
the data are subjected to protection under subdivision (a).
(f) This section does not authorize a manufacturer to refuse to
disclose information required pursuant to this chapter to the
director.
6397. (a) Any person other than a manufacturer who sells a mixture
or any hazardous substance shall provide its direct purchasers of the
mixture or hazardous substance at the time of sale with a copy of
the most recent MSDS or equivalent information prepared and supplied
to the person pursuant to either Section 6390 or subdivision (b)
whenever it is foreseeable that the provisions of this chapter may
apply to the purchaser.
(b) Any person who produces a mixture may, for the purposes of
this section, prepare and use a mixture MSDS, subject to the
provisions of Section 6395.
(c) Any person subject to the provisions of subdivision (a) shall
be relieved of the obligation to provide a specific purchaser of a
hazardous substance with an MSDS if he or she has a record of having
provided the specific purchaser with the most recent version of the
MSDS, or if the product is one sold at retail and is incidentally
sold to an employer or the employer's employees, in the same form,
approximate amount, concentration, and manner as it is sold to
consumers, and, to the seller's knowledge, employee exposure to the
product is not significantly greater than the consumer exposure
occurring during the principal consumer use of the product.
6398. The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board shall
adopt a standard setting forth an employer's duties toward its
employees under this chapter, on or before July 1, 1981, consistent
with the following guidelines:
(a) An MSDS shall be available to an employee, collective
bargaining representative, or the employee's physician, on a timely
and reasonable basis, on substances in the workplace.
(b) Employers shall furnish employees who may be exposed to a
hazardous substance with information on the contents of the MSDS for
the hazardous substances or equivalent information, either in written
form or through training programs, which may be generic to the
extent appropriate and related to the job.
(c) Provision shall be made for employees to be informed of their
rights under this chapter and under the standard to be adopted.
6399. Upon request, the manufacturer of a hazardous substance or
the producer of a mixture who has produced a mixture MSDS pursuant to
the provisions of subdivision (b) of Section 6397 shall make
available to any employer, whose employees may be exposed to its
product in the workplace, an MSDS on its product. If the employer
does not already have an MSDS and has not already made written
inquiry within 12 months as to whether a substance or product is
subject to the requirements of this chapter or if the employer has
not already made written inquiry within 6 months as to whether any
new, revised, or later information has been issued for a hazardous
substance, the employer shall do so within seven working days of a
request to do so by an employee or employee's collective bargaining
representative or physician. The employer may adopt reasonable
procedures for acting upon such employee requests to avoid
interruption of normal work operations. The manufacturer or the
producer of a mixture MSDS pursuant to the provisions of Section 6397
shall answer such inquiries within 15 working days of their receipt,
stating that the substance or product is subject to the requirements
of this chapter and furnishing the most current MSDS or a statement
that the MSDS is under development and the estimated completion date,
or stating that it is not subject to the requirements of this
chapter, with a brief explanation of why the chapter is not
applicable. If an employer has not received a response from a
manufacturer within 25 working days of the date the request was made,
the employer shall send a copy of the request made of the
manufacturer to the director with the notation that no response has
been received.
6399.1. Compliance with regulations of the Director of Food and
Agriculture issued pursuant to Section 12981 of the Food and
Agricultural Code shall be deemed compliance with the obligations of
an employer toward his or her employees under this chapter.
6399.2. This article shall become operative 180 days after adoption
of the initial list of hazardous substances pursuant to Article 3
(commencing with Section 6380).
