42 U.S.C. § 11021 — Material safety data sheets

(a) Basic requirement. (1) Submission of MSDS or list. The owner^* or operator of a facility^* that must prepare or have a material safety data sheet^* for a hazardous chemical under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 and its regulations must submit a sheet for each chemical, or a list described in paragraph (2), to: (A) the appropriate local emergency planning committee; (B) the State^* emergency response commission; and (C) the fire department with jurisdiction over the facility. (2) Contents of list. (A) The list must include: (i) each hazardous chemical for which the Occupational Safety and Health Act and its regulations require a sheet, grouped by the health and physical hazards categories in that Act and its regulations, or by other categories the Administrator^* prescribes under subparagraph (B); (ii) each chemical’s chemical name or common name as shown on its sheet; and (iii) each hazardous component as shown on the sheet. (B) For the list, the Administrator may change the health and physical hazard categories under the Occupational Safety and Health Act and its regulations by requiring reports grouped by hazardous chemicals that present similar emergency hazards. (3) Treatment^* of mixtures. For a hazardous chemical that is a mixture, the owner or operator may: (A) submit a sheet for, or identify on a list, each hazardous element or compound in the mixture; if more than one mixture contains the same element or compound, only one sheet or listing is needed; or (B) submit a sheet for, or identify on a list, the mixture itself. (b) Thresholds. The Administrator may set threshold amounts below which a facility is not subject to this section. The Administrator may base those amounts on chemical classes or facility categories. (c) Availability of MSDS on request. (1) To local emergency planning committee. If the owner or operator submits a list under subsection (a)(1), the owner or operator must, when the local committee asks, submit the sheet for any chemical on the list to that committee. (2) To public. When any person^* asks, the local committee must make a sheet available under section 11044. If the committee does not have the requested sheet, it must ask the facility owner or operator for it and then make it available under section 11044. (d) Initial submission and updating. (1) The initial sheet or list for a hazardous chemical is due by the later of: (A) 12 months after October 17, 1986; or (B) 3 months after the owner or operator is required under the Occupational Safety and Health Act and its regulations to prepare or have a sheet for the chemical. (2) Within 3 months after discovering significant new information about an aspect of a hazardous chemical for which a sheet was previously submitted under subsection (a), the owner or operator must provide a revised sheet to the local committee. (e) “Hazardous chemical” defined. For this section, “hazardous chemical” has the meaning given in 29 C.F.R. 1910.1200(c); this section does not define that term. But it does not include: (1) food, food additives, color additives, drugs, or cosmetics regulated by the Food and Drug^* Administration; (2) a substance that is a solid in a manufactured item, to the extent normal use does not expose people to it; (3) a substance, to the extent it is used for personal, family, or household purposes, or is in the same form and concentration as a product packaged for distribution and use by the general public; (4) a substance, to the extent it is used in a research laboratory, hospital, or other medical facility under the direct supervision of a technically qualified individual^*; or (5) a substance, to the extent it is used in routine agricultural operations or is a fertilizer held for sale by a retailer to the ultimate customer.