New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 8 - HEALTH › Chapter 59 - WORKER AND COMMUNITY RIGHT TO KNOW ACT RULES › Subchapter 1 - GENERAL INFORMATION › Section 8:59-1.3 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
The following words and terms shall have the following meanings
				  unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Act" means the Worker and Community Right to Know Act, L.1983,
				  Chapter 315, 34:5A-1 et seq.
"Article" means a manufactured item: (1) which is formed to a
				  specific shape or design during manufacture; (2) which has end use function(s)
				  dependent in whole or in part upon its shape or design during end use; and (3) which
				  does not release, or otherwise result in exposure to, a hazardous chemical under
				  normal conditions of use.
"Carcinogen" means a substance that can directly, or after
				  transformation, act to initiate or promote the development of malignant
				  neoplasia.
"Chemical Abstracts Service number" or "CAS number" means the
				  unique identification number assigned by the Chemical Abstracts Service to
				  chemicals.
"Chemical name" means the scientific designation of a chemical in
				  accordance with the nomenclature system developed by the International Union of Pure
				  and Applied Chemistry or the Chemical Abstracts Service rules of
				  nomenclature.
"Common name" means any designation or identification such as a
				  code name, code number, trade name, brand name or generic name used to identify a
				  chemical other than by its chemical name.
"Community Right to Know Survey" means the reporting form which
				  combines the chemical inventory reporting requirements of the Environmental Survey,
				  formerly Part I, and the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act, Section
				  312.
"Container" means a receptacle used to hold a liquid, solid, or
				  gaseous substance, including, but not limited to, bottles, pipelines, bags, barrels,
				  boxes, cans, cylinders, drums, cartons, vessels, vats, and stationary or mobile
				  storage tanks. "Container" shall not include process containers or building
				  structures that are not capable of holding liquids, solids, or gases.
"Corrosive" means a substance, either liquid or solid, that can
				  cause visible destruction or irreversible alterations in human skin at the site of
				  contact.
"Council" means the Right To Know Advisory Council created
				  pursuant to 34:5A-18.
"County health department" means a county health agency
				  established pursuant to L.1975, c.329 (N.J.S.A. 26:3A2-1 et seq.), the office of a
				  county clerk in a county which has not established a department, or a designated
				  county lead agency.
"Department" means the Department of Health.
"Department" and "Department of Health and Senior Services" means
				  the New Jersey State Department of Health and Senior Services unless the context
				  clearly indicates otherwise.
"Designated county lead agency" means a health agency or office of
				  emergency management designated by the county clerk to be responsible for conducting
				  all county health department activities required by the Act in the county.
"Designated representative" means an employee of the Department
				  whom the Commissioner designates in writing.
"Emergency responder" means a firefighter, police officer,
				  emergency medical technician, hazardous materials technician, and other similar
				  person who responds to a hazardous substance spill, fire or other incident involving
				  the actual or potential release of a hazardous substance.
"Employee" shall have the same meaning as "public
				  employee."
"Employee representative" means a certified collective bargaining
				  agent or attorney or individual or organization to whom a public employee gives
				  written authorization to exercise his or her rights to request information pursuant
				  to the provisions of the Act, or a parent or legal guardian of a minor or legally
				  incompetent public employee.
"Employer" means the State and local governments, or any agency,
				  authority, department, bureau, or instrumentality thereof, except for the purposes
				  of the Worker and Community Right to Know Fund,
				  34:5A-26.
"Environmental hazardous substance" or "EHS" means any substance
				  designated by the Department of Environmental Protection in N.J.A.C. 7:1G-2.
"Environmental hazardous substance list" means the list of
				  environmental hazardous substances developed by the Department of Environmental
				  Protection pursuant to
				  34:5A-4 and N.J.A.C. 7:1G-2. The
				  environmental hazardous substance list is incorporated into the Right to Know
				  Hazardous Substance List.
"Environmental survey" means a written form, comprised of the
				  Community Right to Know Survey, and the Release and Pollution Prevention Report,
				  prepared by the Department of Environmental Protection and transmitted to an
				  employer, on which the employer shall provide certain information concerning each of
				  the environmental hazardous substances at the facility. The Community Right to Know
				  Survey is incorporated into the Right to Know Survey.
"Explosive" means a chemical that causes a sudden, almost
				  instantaneous release of pressure, gas, and heat when subjected to sudden shock,
				  pressure, or high temperature.
"Exposed" means that a public employee is subjected to a hazardous
				  chemical in the course of employment through any route of entry (inhalation,
				  ingestion, skin contact or absorption, etc.), and includes potential (for example,
				  accidental or possible) exposure.
"Facility" means the building, equipment and contiguous area at a
				  single location used for the conduct of business and shall include any area where
				  public or private employees are periodically assigned. Remote installed equipment
				  that is not located in a building, which a public or private employee may
				  occasionally repair, maintain, check for proper operation, expand, remove, or
				  replace shall be considered part of the facility from which public or private
				  employees are assigned to perform this work. Except for the purposes of education
				  and training, 34:5A-13(c), labeling,
				  34:5A-14, and communication with the
				  local fire department,
				  34:5A-25(b),
				  "facility" shall not include a research and development laboratory.
"Flammable" means the susceptibility of materials to burn.
"Flashpoint" means the minimum temperature at which a liquid gives
				  off a vapor in sufficient concentration to ignite when tested as follows:
1. Tagliabue Closed Tester for liquids with a viscosity of less
				  than 45 Saybolt Universal Seconds at 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees
				  Centigrade), that do not contain suspended solids and do not have a tendency to form
				  a surface film under test; or
2. Pensky-Martens Closed Tester for liquids with a viscosity equal
				  to or greater than 45 Saybolt Universal Seconds at 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8
				  degrees Centigrade), or that contain suspended solids, or that have a tendency to
				  form a surface film under test; or
3. Setaflash Closed Tester.
"Hazardous substance" means any substance, or substance contained
				  in a mixture, included on the hazardous substance list that the Department develops
				  pursuant to
34:5A-5
, introduced by an employer to be
				  used, studied, produced, or otherwise handled at a facility. Hazardous substance
				  shall not include:
1. Any article containing a hazardous substance if the hazardous
				  substance is present in a solid form which does not pose any acute or chronic health
				  hazard to a public or private employee or emergency responder exposed to it;
2. Any hazardous substance constituting less than one percent of a
				  mixture unless the hazardous substance is present in an aggregate amount of 500
				  pounds or more in a container at a facility;
3. Any hazardous substance that is a special health hazard
				  substance constituting less than the threshold percentage established by the
				  Department for that special health hazard substance when present in a mixture. The
				  threshold percentage for carcinogens, mutagens and teratogens shall be 0.1 percent;
4. Any hazardous substance present in the same form and
				  concentration as a product packaged for distribution and use by the general public
				  to which a public or private employee's exposure during handling is not
				  significantly greater than a consumer's exposure during the principal use of the
				  toxic substance;
5. Any fuel in a motor vehicle;
6. Tobacco or tobacco products;
7. Wood or wood products;
8. Foods, drugs, cosmetics, or alcoholic beverages in a retail
				  establishment which are packaged for sale to consumers;
9. Foods, drugs, or cosmetics intended for personal consumption by
				  employees while in the workplace;
10. Materials gathered as evidence by a law enforcement agency and
				  maintained in an evidence locker or room;
11. Hazardous substances which are an integral part of a facility
				  structure or furnishings; or
12. Products which are the personal property and are for the
				  personal use of an employee.
"Hazardous substance fact sheet" means a written document that the
				  Department prepares for each hazardous substance except for generic categories, and
				  transmits to public employers, county health departments, county clerks, designated
				  county lead agencies, and the public pursuant to the provisions of the Act.
"Instability" means the same as reactive or reactivity.
"Label" means a sign, emblem, sticker, or marker affixed to or
				  stenciled onto a container listing the information required pursuant to N.J.S.A.
				  34:5A-14.
"Local Emergency Planning Committee" means a committee formed
				  pursuant to Title III of the Federal Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization
				  Act.
"Local fire department" means the fire department that has
				  jurisdiction over the location of an employer's facility.
"Local police department" means the local police department or
				  assigned State Police Troop that has jurisdiction over the location of an employer's
				  facility.
"Mixture" means a combination of two or more substances not
				  involving a chemical reaction.
"Mutagen" means an agent capable of disturbing the integrity of
				  the hereditary mechanism of the cell or organism.
"One percent" means one percent by weight or volume.
"Person" includes an individual, corporation, company,
				  partnership, firm, association, trust, estate, public or private institution, group,
				  society, joint stock company, municipality, county, all political subdivisions of
				  this State or any agency or instrumentality thereof including health departments,
				  any agency or instrumentality of the State, and any legal successor, representative
				  agent or agency of the foregoing.
"Pilot plant" means pilot facility as that term is defined at
				  N.J.S.A. 13:1D.
"Potential exposure" includes exposure resulting from foreseeable
				  emergencies such as, but not limited to, equipment failure, rupture of containers,
				  or failure of control equipment which could result in an uncontrolled release of a
				  hazardous substance into the workplace and exposure to a public employee.
"Private employee" means any paid full-time or part-time salaried,
				  seasonal or hourly worker of a covered private employer.
"Process container" means a container, excluding a pipeline, the
				  content of which is changed frequently; or a container of 10 gallons or less in
				  capacity, into which substances are transferred from labeled containers, and which
				  is intended only for the immediate use of the employee who performs the transfer; or
				  a container on which a label would be obscured by heat, spillage or other factors;
				  or a test tube, beaker, vial, or other container which is routinely used and reused.
				  The contents of a container will be deemed to be "changed frequently" if the
				  contents are changed at least once per shift. "Routinely used and reused" shall not
				  include the situation where the same substances are continually being added and
				  removed from the process container as in a continuous flow process.
"Public employee" means any paid full-time or part-time salaried,
				  seasonal or hourly worker of a covered public employer, and shall include volunteer
				  firefighters and volunteers who work for a covered public employer.
"Public employer" means the State and local governments, or any
				  agency, authority, department, bureau, or instrumentality thereof, except for the
				  purposes of the Worker and Community Right to Know Fund, N.J.S.A. 34:5A-26.
"Reactive" or "reactivity" means the potential of a material to
				  release energy either by itself or when in contact with water.
"Requester" means any person who makes a request for the
				  disclosure of the information for which a trade secret claim has been made.
"Research and development (R & D) laboratory" means a
				  specially designated area, including pilot plants, used primarily for research,
				  development, and testing activity, and not primarily involved in the production of
				  goods for commercial sale, in which hazardous substances, in the case of public
				  employers, or environmental hazardous substances, in the case of private employers,
				  are used by or under the direct supervision of a technically qualified person. For
				  the purpose of reporting on the Right to Know Survey and labeling, "primarily" means
				  greater than 50 percent.
"Right to Know Enforcement Officer" means an employee of the
				  Department who enforces the Worker and Community Right to Know Act.
"Right to Know Hazardous Substance List" includes the workplace
				  hazardous substance list and the environmental hazardous substance list.
"Right to Know Substance Number" means a four-digit number
				  assigned to each hazardous substance by the Department, which is used for reporting
				  purposes. These numbers are not in sequence.
"Right to Know Survey" includes the workplace survey,
				  environmental survey, and the emergency services information survey.
"Shall" means a mandatory requirement.
"Special health hazard substance" means any hazardous substance on
				  the special health hazard substance list.
"Special health hazard substance list" means the list of special
				  health hazard substances that the Department develops pursuant to
34:5A-5
for which an employer cannot make
				  a trade secret claim.
"Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act" or "SARA" means the
				  Federal Act ( PL 99-499 ) establishing the "Emergency Planning and Community Right
				  to Know Act of 1986" at Title III (
				  42
				  USC 11001 ).
"Teratogen" means a substance which acts during pregnancy to
				  produce a physical or functional defect in the conceptus or offspring.
"Threat to the health or safety of an employee" includes, but is
				  not limited to, a substance which is flammable, explosive, corrosive, reactive, or
				  possesses other physical properties which pose a threat to the health or safety of
				  an employee; a substance which is known to cause cancer, genetic mutations,
				  malfunctions in reproduction, acute or chronic disease, or other physiological
				  malfunctions, in humans or animals.
"Trade secret" means any formula, plan, pattern, process,
				  production data, information, or compilation of information, which is not patented,
				  which is known only to an employer and certain other individuals, and which is used
				  in the research and development or fabrication and production of an article of trade
				  or service or of a mixture, and which gives the employer possessing it a competitive
				  advantage over businesses who do not possess it, or the secrecy of which is
				  certified by an appropriate official of the Federal government as necessary for
				  national defense purposes. The chemical name and Chemical Abstracts Service number
				  of a substance shall be considered a trade secret only if the employer can establish
				  that the substance is unknown to competitors.
"Trade secret claim" means a written request, made by an employer
				  pursuant to 34:5A-15 and N.J.A.C. 8:59-3, to
				  withhold the public disclosure of information on the grounds that the disclosure
				  would reveal a trade secret.
"Trade secret docket number" means a code number temporarily or
				  permanently assigned to the identity of information on the Community Right to Know
				  Survey or Release and Pollution Prevention Report by the Department of Environmental
				  Protection.
"Trade secret registry number" means a code number that the
				  Department temporarily or permanently assigns to the identity of a substance in a
				  container pursuant to
34:5A-15
and
8:59-3.6
.
"Workplace Hazardous Substance List" means the list of hazardous
				  substances that the Department develops pursuant to
34:5A-5
. The Workplace Hazardous
				  Substance List is incorporated into the Right to Know Hazardous Substance
				  List.
"Workplace survey" means a written document that the Department
				  prepares and a public employer completes pursuant to the Act, on which the employer
				  shall report each hazardous substance present at his or her facility. The workplace
				  survey is incorporated into the Right to Know Survey.