2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XV - Regulation of Trade › Chapter 94b - Hazardous Substances › Section 1 - Definitions

Section 1. The following words as used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires shall have the following meanings:—
''Banned hazardous substance'', any toy, or other article intended for use by children, which is a hazardous substance, or which bears or contains a hazardous substance susceptible of access to a child, or is otherwise hazardous because it presents electrical, mechanical or thermal hazards; or any hazardous substance intended or packaged in a form suitable for use in households, which the commissioner by regulation classifies as a ''banned hazardous substance'' on the basis of a finding that notwithstanding cautionary labeling required under this chapter, the degree or nature of the hazard involved in the presence or use of the substance in households is such that the protection of the public health and safety can be adequately served only by keeping the substance out of the channels of commerce. The commissioner, by regulation, shall, however, exempt articles, such as chemical sets, which by reason of their functional purpose, require the inclusion of the hazardous substance involved or necessarily present an electrical, mechanical, or thermal hazard, and which bear labeling giving adequate direction and warnings for safe use and are intended for use by children who have attained sufficient maturity and who may reasonably be expected to read and heed these warnings.
''Combustible'', any substance or mixture of substances which has a flash point from eighty degrees to and including one hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit, as determined by the Tagliabue Open Cup Tester.
''Commerce'', any and all commerce within the commonwealth, including the operation of any business or service establishment.
''Commissioner'', the commissioner of public health.
''Corrosive'', any substance which when in contact with living tissue will cause destruction of such tissue by chemical action.
''Department'', the department of public health.
''Director'', the director of the division of food and drugs in the department.
''Division'', the division of food and drugs in the department.
''Electrical hazard'', an article which in normal use or when subjected to reasonably foreseeable damage or abuse, by its design or manufacture, may cause personal injury or illness by electrical shock.
''Extremely flammable'', when used with respect to a substance, any substance which has a flash point at or below twenty degrees Fahrenheit as determined by the Tagliabue Open Cup Tester.
''Flammable'', when used with respect to a substance, any substance which has a flash point of above twenty degrees to and including eighty degrees Fahrenheit, as determined by the Tagliabue Open Cup Tester; when used with respect to all items of wearing apparel in sizes 0 through 6X intended to be worn primarily for sleeping or activities related to sleeping and for fabric or related material intended or promoted for use in such wearing apparel, which exceeds the acceptance criteria specified in the federal children's sleepwear standard, DOC FF 3–71, and determined by an appropriate test performed in accordance with said standard; or when used with respect to all items of wearing apparel in sizes 7 through 14 intended to be worn primarily for sleeping or activities related to sleeping and for fabric or related material intended or promoted for use in such wearing apparel, which exceeds the acceptance criteria specified in the federal children's sleepwear standard, FF5–74, and determined by an appropriate test performed in accordance with said standard; provided, that the flammability of solids and of the contents of self-pressurized containers shall be determined by methods generally recognized as applicable to such containers and established by regulations issued by the commissioner.
''Hazardous substance'', any substance or mixture of substances which is toxic, corrosive, an irritant, a strong sensitizer, flammable or which generates pressure through decomposition, heat, or other means, if such substance or mixture of substances may cause substantial personal injury or substantial illness during or as a proximate result of any customary or reasonably foreseeable handling or use, including reasonable foreseeable ingestion by children, or any toy or other article intended for use by children which presents an electrical, mechanical or thermal hazard. It shall include any radioactive substance if, with respect to such substance as used in a particular class of article or as packaged, the commissioner determines by regulation that the substance is sufficiently hazardous to require labeling in accordance with this chapter in order to protect the public health. It shall not include economic poisons subject to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, unless the commissioner finds that such economic poison is not adequately labeled for the protection of the public health, nor foods, drugs and cosmetics subject to the Federal Drug and Cosmetic Act or to chapter ninety-four, nor substances intended for use as fuels when stored in containers and used in heating, cooking, or refrigeration systems. It shall include any article which is not itself an economic poison within the meaning of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act but which is a hazardous substance within the meaning of this definition by reason of bearing or containing such economic poison.
''Highly toxic'', when used with respect to a substance, any substance which (a) produces death within fourteen days in half or more than half of a group of ten or more laboratory white rats each weighing between two hundred and three hundred grams, at a single dose of fifty milligrams or less per kilogram of body weight, when orally administered; or (b) produces death within fourteen days in half or more than half of a group of ten or more laboratory white rats each weighing between two hundred and three hundred grams, when inhaled continuously for a period of one hour or less at an atmospheric concentration of two hundred parts per million by volume or less of gas or vapor or two milligrams per liter or less of mist or dust, provided such concentration is likely to be encountered by man when the substance is used in any reasonably foreseeable manner; or (c) produces death within fourteen days in half or more than half of a group of ten or more rabbits tested in a dosage of two hundred milligrams or less per kilogram of body weight, when administered by continuous contact with the bare skin for twenty-four hours or less; provided that if the commissioner finds that available data on human experience with any substance indicate results different from those obtained on animals with the aforesaid dosages or concentrations, the human data shall take precedence.
''Immediate container'', excludes a package liner.
''Inspector'', an inspector of the division of food and drugs in the department.
''Irritant'', any substance not corrosive which on immediate, prolonged or repeated contact with normal living tissue will induce a local inflammatory reaction.
''Label'', a display of written, printed, or graphic matter upon the immediate container of any substance, or in the case of an article which is unpackaged or is not packaged in an immediate container intended or suitable for delivery to the ultimate consumer, a display of such matter directly on the article involved or on a tag or other suitable material affixed thereto, and a requirement made by or under authority of this chapter that any word, statement, or other information appear on the label shall not be considered to be complied with unless such word, statement or other information also appears on the outside container or wrapper, if any there be, unless it is easily legible through the outside container or wrapper and on all accompanying literature where there are directions for use, written or otherwise.
''Mechanical hazard'', an article which, in normal use or when subjected to reasonably foreseeable damage or abuse, by its design or manufacture presents an unreasonable risk of personal injury or illness from fracture, fragmentation or disassembly of the article, from propulsion of the article or any part or accessory thereof, from points or other protrusions, surfaces, edges, openings or closures, from moving parts, from lack or insufficiency of controls to reduce or stop motion, as a result of self-adhering characteristics of the article, because the article or any part or accessory thereof may be aspirated or ingested, because of instability, or any other aspect of the article's design or manufacture.
''Misbranded package'' or ''misbranded package of a hazardous substance'', a hazardous substance in a container, or not in a container if the substance can be handled or transported without one, which is intended or suitable for household use or personal use and which, except as otherwise provided by or pursuant to section two, fails to bear a label which states prominently in the English language, in conspicuous and legible type in contrast by typography, layout or color with other printed matter on the label, (a) the name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer, distributor or seller; (b) the common or usual name or the chemical name, if there be no common or usual name, of the hazardous substance or of each component which contributes substantially to its hazard, unless the commissioner by regulation permits or requires the use of a recognized generic name; (c) the signal word ''DANGER'' on substances which are corrosive, extremely flammable or highly toxic; (d) the signal word ''WARNING'' or ''CAUTION'' on all other hazardous substances; (e) an affirmative statement of the principal hazard or hazards, such as ''Flammable'', ''Vapor Harmful'', ''Causes Burns'', ''Absorbed Through Skin'', or similar wording descriptive of the hazard; (f) precautionary measures describing the action to be followed or avoided, except when modified by regulations of the commissioner pursuant to section two; (g) instructions, when necessary or appropriate, for first-aid treatment; (h) the word ''POISON'' for any hazardous substance which is defined as ''highly toxic'' by this section; (i) instructions for handling and storage of packages which require special care in handling or storage; and (j) the statement ''Keep out of the reach of children'', or its practical equivalent.
''Person'', includes an individual, partnership, corporation, association, or legal representative or agent.
''Radioactive substance'', a substance which emits ionizing radiation.
''Strong sensitizer'', a substance which will cause on normal living tissue, through an allergic or photodynamic process, a hypersensitivity which becomes evident on reapplication of the same substance and which is designated as such by the commissioner. Before designating any substance as a strong sensitizer, the commissioner, upon consideration of the frequency of occurrence and severity of the reaction, shall find that the substance has a significant potential for causing hypersensitivity.
''Thermal hazard'', an article which, in normal use or when subjected to reasonably foreseeable damage or abuse, by its design or manufacture presents an unreasonable risk of personal injury or illness because of heat as from heated parts, substances or surfaces.
''Toxic'', when used with respect to a substance, any substance, other than a radioactive substance, which has the capacity to produce personal injury or illness to man through ingestion, inhalation, or absorption through any body surface.