Makes provisions for the protection of indoor air quality including the requirement that building owners develop and maintain an indoor environmental plan and undertake other responsibilities relating thereto including investigating complaints and providing a written response thereto; directs department of health, in consultation with specified others, to adopt standards of ventilation for new and existing buildings and to develop model courses in the operation and maintenance of heating ventilation and air conditioning systems.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3123
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 24, 2011
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LUPARDO, GOTTFRIED, SWEENEY, DINOWITZ, GALEF,
O'DONNELL, ORTIZ, MILLMAN, COLTON, ROSENTHAL, KAVANAGH -- Multi-Spon-
sored by -- M. of A. BING, BOYLAND, BRENNAN, CANESTRARI, CLARK, COOK,
ENGLEBRIGHT, GLICK, HOOPER, HOYT, JACOBS, V. LOPEZ, MAYERSOHN, McENE-
NY, PERRY, PHEFFER, J. RIVERA, P. RIVERA, ROBINSON, TOWNS, WEISENBERG,
WRIGHT -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to protecting indoor
air quality
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 article
2 49-A to read as follows:
3 ARTICLE 49-A
4 INDOOR AIR QUALITY
5 Section 4920. Purpose.
6 4921. Definitions.
7 4922. Indoor air quality plan.
8 4923. Indoor air quality standards.
9 4924. Indoor air investigations.
10 4925. Training course.
11 § 4920. Purpose. It is the purpose of this article to protect public
12 health by providing for adequate quantity and quality of indoor air. In
13 order to achieve this aim it is necessary to provide that a building's
14 heating, ventilation and air conditioning system be operated and main-
15 tained according to design. It is also necessary that persons who are
16 experiencing adverse health effects because of indoor air problems have
17 means to communicate these problems and have them addressed. In order
18 to ensure a minimum and adequate supply of fresh air to building occu-
19 pants, it is further, also the purpose of this article to adopt estab-
20 lished standards for ventilation.
21 § 4921. Definitions. As used in this article:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03282-01-1
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1 1. "Building" means an occupied structure of greater than twenty-five
2 thousand square feet of floor space, using mechanical ventilation
3 providing outdoor air, recirculated air, or a mixture of outdoor and
4 recirculated air, excluding a residential structure containing six or
5 fewer dwelling units or any structure or portion of a structure where
6 state regulation of indoor air quality would be preempted by federal
7 law. This definition shall exclude barns, which for the purposes of
8 this article shall mean a structure that was designed and used for stor-
9 ing farm equipment or agricultural products, or for housing livestock.
10 2. "Owner" means any individual, partnership, corporation, state,
11 county, city, town, village, school district or any other political
12 subdivision or civil division of the state, that owns the freehold of a
13 premises or any lesser estate therein, a mortgagee or vendee in
14 possession, a contract vendee, assignee of rents, receiver, executor,
15 trustee, lessee, or any other person, firm or corporation in control of
16 a building.
17 § 4922. Indoor air quality plan. 1. Responsibilities of building
18 owner.
19 (a) The owner of a building shall be responsible for developing and
20 maintaining an indoor air quality plan for the building; the plan shall
21 contain the following components:
22 (i) a detailed description of the building's heating, ventilation and
23 air conditioning system, its operation, and procedures and schedules for
24 necessary maintenance;
25 (ii) an inventory of toxic substances used in the building, including
26 copies of applicable material safety data sheets;
27 (iii) a plan detailing modifications and renovations to the building,
28 including an assessment of the effects of renovation on indoor air qual-
29 ity ventilation and other factors relevant to air quality;
30 (iv) prior to commencing construction or renovation projects, a plan
31 to minimize exposure to contaminants and mitigate adverse effects on
32 building occupants during and after construction or renovation;
33 (v) a procedure for maintaining and providing access (including
34 inspection and copying) to written records or logs pursuant to paragraph
35 (b) of this subdivision; and
36 (vi) a system to respond to requests for information, investigate and
37 respond to complaints of indoor air quality problems and adverse health
38 effects by occupants consistent with paragraph (d) of this subdivision.
39 (b) The owner of a building shall be responsible for developing and
40 maintaining the following records and logs as part of the indoor air
41 quality plan:
42 (i) a written record of maintenance performed on the building's heat-
43 ing, ventilation, and air conditioning system;
44 (ii) a log of pesticide use and application, including copies of
45 applicable material safety data sheets;
46 (iii) a written record of modifications and renovations to the build-
47 ing, including but not limited to modification of the heating, venti-
48 lation and air conditioning system, construction and modifications of
49 walls and interior space which could affect air flow to building occu-
50 pants; and
51 (iv) a log of complaints of indoor air quality problems and reports of
52 adverse health effects and actions and responses to complaints and
53 reports.
54 (c) The owner of a building shall designate a person or group of
55 persons who shall be responsible for coordinating the indoor air quality
56 plan including:
A. 3123 3
1 (i) operating and maintaining the building's heating, ventilation, and
2 air conditioning system;
3 (ii) maintaining the indoor air quality plan pursuant to paragraph (a)
4 of this subdivision; developing and maintaining the written records and
5 logs pursuant to paragraph (b) of this subdivision; and
6 (iii) receiving and responding to complaints of indoor air quality
7 problems and requests for information pursuant to paragraph (d) of this
8 subdivision.
9 (d) The owner of the building shall post in the lobby of the building,
10 or conspicuously where building occupants have access to it, a notice
11 stating the procedures for making requests and complaints under this
12 paragraph and name and telephone number of the person or persons desig-
13 nated pursuant to paragraph (c) of this subdivision.
14 (e) A building owner may contract with a management company, lessee or
15 other party responsible for the building's operation and maintenance to
16 carry out the responsibilities of this subdivision.
17 (f) A building owner shall provide building occupants with reasonable
18 access to the indoor air quality plan pursuant to paragraph (a) of this
19 subdivision; provided, however, that a building owner may exclude from
20 that access any information the disclosure of which would pose a securi-
21 ty risk.
22 (g) A building owner shall submit a copy of the indoor air quality
23 plan pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision to the department
24 upon request by the department.
25 (h) Where the owner operates more than one similar building on a
26 contiguous site, the owner may prepare a plan which includes more than
27 one building.
28 2. The department shall promulgate regulations necessary to carry out
29 the provisions of this section.
30 § 4923. Indoor air quality standards. 1. Within one year after this
31 section shall take effect, the department, in consultation with the
32 department of labor, energy research and development authority, and the
33 office of fire prevention, the department of economic development and
34 the department of environmental conservation, shall adopt regulations
35 establishing standards of ventilation for new and existing buildings.
36 The standards shall take into effect building arrangement, structure,
37 size, use, age, and occupancy. The department may issue different regu-
38 lations for new buildings, existing buildings, and buildings that are
39 being substantially renovated. For schools, standards shall be appropri-
40 ate for children. In establishing the standards, the department shall
41 consider the most current applicable standards of a nationally-recog-
42 nized society or societies of heating, refrigeration, and air condition-
43 ing engineers.
44 2. The department may establish a procedure where any provision or
45 requirement of the indoor air quality regulations may be varied or modi-
46 fied in cases where strict compliance would entail practical difficul-
47 ties or unnecessary hardship or would otherwise be unwarranted. The
48 procedure shall be designed to insure that any variance or modification
49 shall not substantially adversely affect provisions for health, safety
50 and security, and that equally safe and proper alternatives may be
51 prescribed. Requests for a variance shall be resolved within sixty days
52 of the date of application unless a longer period is required for good
53 cause shown.
54 § 4924. Indoor air investigations. 1. Upon receipt of a complaint or
55 complaints excluding complaints in relation to temperature of indoor air
56 quality relating to a building from three or more occupants of the
A. 3123 4
1 building or, from a tenant of all or part of the building, the building
2 owner or designee shall initiate an investigation of the complaint or
3 complaints. The building owner shall respond in writing within thirty
4 days indicating the results of the initial investigation and any correc-
5 tive actions taken or pending.
6 2. If the complainant is dissatisfied with the response to the
7 complaint, the complainant may file a formal complaint with the commis-
8 sioner, who shall initiate an investigation of the complaint. The
9 complaint shall be in writing and indicate the grounds for the complain-
10 ant and shall be signed by the complainant. A copy shall be provided by
11 the commissioner to the building owner or the person designated for such
12 purposes promptly, and in any event prior to any inspection by the
13 department. On the request of complainant, the complainant's name shall
14 be withheld. The complainant or a representative of the complainant
15 shall be given the opportunity to accompany the department's inspector
16 during an inspection for the purpose of aiding such inspection.
17 3. If the commissioner determines that an indoor air quality problem
18 exists in a building, such commissioner shall issue in writing to the
19 building owner and complainant such findings and any proposed means of
20 correcting such problems. The building owner or representative shall
21 respond to the findings within thirty days including any plans for
22 correcting the indoor air quality problem. The building owner or repre-
23 sentative shall notify the commissioner of actions taken to correct such
24 problems.
25 § 4925. Training course. The department, in consultation with the
26 department of labor, and nationally recognized societies of industrial
27 hygiene, fire prevention and heating, refrigeration, and air condition-
28 ing, shall develop model courses in the operation and maintenance of
29 heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. The commissioner
30 shall have authority to approve programs in heating, ventilation and air
31 conditioning operation and maintenance and shall maintain a list of
32 approved programs, which shall be made available to interested parties
33 upon request. The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations
34 setting forth the criteria for approval of such programs.
35 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of September next
36 succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
