2020 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 50 - Employment Law
Article 9 - Occupational Health and Safety
Section 50-9-5.1 - Employer duties; hazardous chemicals.

A. All incoming containers labeled as hazardous shall be subject to this section. The employer shall not remove or deface any label which indicates on an incoming container that a chemical is hazardous, unless the container is immediately marked with the required information.

B. Each employer shall obtain and maintain material safety data sheets for each chemical used in his place of employment and labeled as hazardous. Each employer shall ensure that the information on material safety data sheets for hazardous chemicals is readily accessible to employees during each work shift. The board shall promulgate regulations which assure reasonable compliance with this provision at mobile work sites. If a material safety data sheet has not been supplied from the manufacturer, importer or distributor of the hazardous chemical, the employer shall obtain the material safety data sheet by writing the manufacturer, importer or distributor and requesting that he send the material safety data sheet immediately.

C. Each employer shall maintain a current inventory of all chemicals that have been labeled as hazardous in his place of employment.

D. Each employer shall develop and implement a written hazard communication program for his place of employment which describes how the criteria specified for labels and other forms of warning, material safety data sheets and employee information and training will be met and which also includes the following:

(1) a list of the hazardous chemicals known to be present, using an identity that is referenced on the appropriate material safety data sheet. The list may be compiled for the place of employment as a whole or for individual work areas;

(2) the methods the employer will use to inform employees of the hazards of nonroutine tasks, for example, the cleaning of reactor vessels and the hazards associated with chemicals contained in unlabeled pipes in their work areas; and

(3) the methods the employer will use to inform any contract employers whose employees work in the employer's place of business of the hazardous chemicals their employees may be exposed to while performing their work and any suggestions for appropriate protective measures.

The employer may rely on an existing hazard communication program to comply with these requirements provided that it meets the provisions of this subsection. The employer shall make the written hazard communication program available upon request to employees, their designated representatives and the occupational health and safety bureau of the environmental improvement division of the health and environment department [department of environment].

E. Each employer shall provide employees with information and training on hazardous chemicals they use or may become exposed to during the course of employment.

F. The requirements of Subsection E of this section shall not apply to any hazardous chemical received by an employer in a sealed package or container and subsequently sold or transferred if the seal is maintained.

G. Nothing in this section shall supersede any other requirements in the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

History: 1978 Comp., § 50-9-5.1, enacted by Laws 1987, ch. 178, § 3.

Bracketed material. — The bracketed reference to the department of environment was inserted by the compiler and is not part of the law. Laws 1991, ch. 25, § 4 established the department of environment and provided that all references to the environmental improvement division of the health and environment department shall be construed to mean the department of environment.