Requires hospitals to provide notice to employees and patients of environmental health and safety hazards; requires the appointment of an environmental health and safety information access contact person by each hospital; provides that each hospital shall annually educate employees as to their right to all information about health and safety conditions in the hospital; makes related provisions.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A920
SPONSOR: Englebright (MS) TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the public health law, in relation to
employee and patient notification of environmental health and safety
hazards in hospitals
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF THE BILL: The bill establishes requirements
for notification of patients and hospital employees of environmental
health and safety information in the hospital.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: The bill requires hospitals to take the
following actions:
* appoint an environmental health and safety information access contact
person;
* annually educate all employees about their right to information about
health and safety conditions, including water quality, hazardous
substances stored or used in the hospital, and
construction/rehabilitation activities; and
* inform patients of their right to information about health and safety
conditions in the hospital, including the information access person.
Hospitals must also annually inventory all hazardous substances used,
stored or present in the hospital, and develop written plans to minimize
the use and presence of hazardous substances. In the case of major
facility construction for renovation that might result in a significant
effect on the health of hospital occupants, hospitals must post warning
signs.
JUSTIFICATION: Patients are particularly vulnerable to exposures to
harmful substances. Employees, because of the significant amounts of
time they spend at work, also have the potential for significant expo-
sures. This serve several purposes. It will make hospitals more aware of
the hazardous materials and substances used and stored in hospitals. It
will cause hospitals to minimize the use of these hazardous materials
and substances, use less toxic replacements and remove those hazardous
materials that serve no purpose. The bill will also allow hospital occu-
pants to learn what hazardous materials they may be exposed to.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 2001-02,A10670 02/10/03 referred to health
(A3635) 01/07/04 referred to health 2005-06 A.2266 referred to health
2007-08 A1012 referred to health 2009-10 A2154 referred to health 2011-
12 A3763 Health
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.
EFFECTIVE DATE: The bill would take effect 90 days after it shall
become law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
920
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 9, 2013
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ENGLEBRIGHT, COLTON -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M.
of A. BRENNAN, CAHILL, CLARK, COOK, DINOWITZ, HOOPER, JACOBS, MILLMAN,
ORTIZ, PERRY, RIVERA, WEISENBERG -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to employee and
patient notification of environmental health and safety hazards in
hospitals
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding a new section
2 2803-t to read as follows:
3 § 2803-t. Notification of environmental health and safety hazards. To
4 ensure that each patient and hospital employee has access to information
5 about environmental health issues and hazards in the hospital, the
6 following actions shall be taken by each hospital:
7 1. Each hospital shall appoint an environmental health and safety
8 information access contact person;
9 2. Annually, each hospital shall inform and educate all hospital
10 employees that they have a right to all information about health and
11 safety conditions in the hospital including, but not limited to, hazard-
12 ous substances used, stored or present in the hospital; construction and
13 rehabilitation activities; air or water quality sampling results and
14 problems; procedures for information access; identification of the envi-
15 ronmental health and safety information access contact person; require-
16 ments for timely response to information requests; and such other proce-
17 dures which ensure access to such information;
18 3. Each hospital shall inform and educate every patient, as soon after
19 the patient's admission to the hospital as is reasonably possible with-
20 out jeopardizing the patient's health, that they have a right to all
21 information about health and safety conditions in the hospital includ-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05724-01-3
A. 920 2
1 ing, but not limited to, hazardous substances used, stored or present in
2 the hospital; construction and rehabilitation activities; air or water
3 quality sampling results and problems; procedures for information
4 access; identification of the environmental health and safety informa-
5 tion access contact person; requirements for timely response to informa-
6 tion requests; and such other procedures which ensure access to such
7 information;
8 4. Each hospital shall:
9 (a) annually inventory all hazardous substances used, stored or pres-
10 ent, and make such inventory available to the public,
11 (b) develop written plans to minimize the use and presence of hazard-
12 ous substances, including a timetable for the completion of the compo-
13 nents of such plans, and
14 (c) prepare written reports on the results of all sampling, evaluation
15 and remediation activities, and make such reports available to the
16 public; and
17 5. Not less than two days prior to any major facility construction,
18 demolition, maintenance or renovation, or any other activity with the
19 potential to result in exposure, to indoor or outdoor hazard that may
20 have a significant effect on the health of the occupants of a hospital,
21 such hospital shall prominently post the following warning notice at
22 each entry point to the hospital:
23 "NOTICE OF HOSPITAL ACTIVITIES INVOLVING HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES
24 The purpose of this notice is to ensure that employees and patients
25 are notified that the following activities will be occurring in this
26 hospital
27 Hospital name:
28 Hospital address:
29 Proposed activity:
30 Location of proposed activity:
31 Hazardous substances utilized:
32 Material data safety sheets are available from the contact person
33 listed below:
34 Date/time and duration of proposed activity:
35 Contact person/location for further information:".
36 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
37 have become a law.
