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
________________________________________________________________________
1852
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 13, 2011
___________
Introduced by Sens. OPPENHEIMER, DIAZ -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed 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:
22 1. "Building" means an occupied structure of greater than twenty-five
23 thousand square feet of floor space, using mechanical ventilation
24 providing outdoor air, recirculated air, or a mixture of outdoor and
25 recirculated air, excluding a residential structure containing six or
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03282-02-1
S. 1852 2
1 fewer dwelling units or any structure or portion of a structure where
2 state regulation of indoor air quality would be preempted by federal
3 law.
4 2. "Owner" means any individual, partnership, corporation, state,
5 county, city, town, village, or any other political subdivision or civil
6 division of the state, that owns the freehold of a premises or any less-
7 er estate therein, a mortgagee or vendee in possession, a contract
8 vendee, assignee of rents, receiver, executor, trustee, lessee, or any
9 other person, firm or corporation in control of a building.
10 § 4922. Indoor air quality plan. 1. Responsibilities of building
11 owner.
12 (a) The owner of a building shall be responsible for developing and
13 maintaining an indoor air quality plan for the building; the plan shall
14 contain the following components:
15 (i) a detailed description of the building's heating, ventilation and
16 air conditioning system, its operation, and procedures and schedules for
17 necessary maintenance;
18 (ii) an inventory of toxic substances used in the building, including
19 copies of applicable material safety data sheets;
20 (iii) a plan detailing modifications and renovations to the building,
21 including an assessment of the effects of renovation on indoor air qual-
22 ity ventilation and other factors relevant to air quality;
23 (iv) prior to commencing construction or renovation projects, a plan
24 to minimize exposure to contaminants and mitigate adverse effects on
25 building occupants during and after construction or renovation;
26 (v) a procedure for maintaining and providing access (including
27 inspection and copying) to written records or logs pursuant to paragraph
28 (b) of this subdivision; and
29 (vi) a system to respond to requests for information, investigate and
30 respond to complaints of indoor air quality problems and adverse health
31 effects by occupants consistent with paragraph (d) of this subdivision.
32 (b) The owner of a building shall be responsible for developing and
33 maintaining the following records and logs as part of the indoor air
34 quality plan:
35 (i) a written record of maintenance performed on the building's heat-
36 ing, ventilation, and air conditioning system;
37 (ii) a log of pesticide use and application, including copies of
38 applicable material safety data sheets;
39 (iii) a written record of modifications and renovations to the build-
40 ing, including but not limited to modification of the heating, venti-
41 lation and air conditioning system, construction and modifications of
42 walls and interior space which could affect air flow to building occu-
43 pants; and
44 (iv) a log of complaints of indoor air quality problems and reports of
45 adverse health effects and actions and responses to complaints and
46 reports.
47 (c) The owner of a building shall designate a person or group of
48 persons who shall be responsible for coordinating the indoor air quality
49 plan including:
50 (i) operating and maintaining the building's heating, ventilation, and
51 air conditioning system;
52 (ii) maintaining the indoor air quality plan pursuant to paragraph (a)
53 of this subdivision; developing and maintaining the written records and
54 logs pursuant to paragraph (b) of this subdivision; and
S. 1852 3
1 (iii) receiving and responding to complaints of indoor air quality
2 problems and requests for information pursuant to paragraph (d) of this
3 subdivision.
4 (d) The owner of the building shall post in the lobby of the building,
5 or conspicuously where building occupants have access to it, a notice
6 stating the procedures for making requests and complaints under this
7 paragraph and name and telephone number of the person or persons desig-
8 nated pursuant to paragraph (c) of this subdivision.
9 (e) A building owner may contract with a management company, lessee or
10 other party responsible for the building's operation and maintenance to
11 carry out the responsibilities of this subdivision.
12 (f) A building owner shall provide building occupants with reasonable
13 access to the indoor air quality plan pursuant to paragraph (a) of this
14 subdivision; provided, however, that a building owner may exclude from
15 that access any information the disclosure of which would pose a securi-
16 ty risk.
17 (g) Where the owner operates more than one similar building on a
18 contiguous site, the owner may prepare a plan which includes more than
19 one building.
20 2. The department shall promulgate regulations necessary to carry out
21 the provisions of this section.
22 § 4923. Indoor air quality standards. 1. Within one year after this
23 section shall take effect, the department, in consultation with the
24 department of labor, energy research and development authority, and the
25 office of fire prevention and control, the department of economic devel-
26 opment and the department of environmental conservation, shall adopt
27 regulations establishing standards of ventilation for new and existing
28 buildings. The standards shall take into effect building arrangement,
29 structure, size, use, age, and occupancy. The department may issue
30 different regulations for new buildings, existing buildings, and build-
31 ings that are being substantially renovated. In establishing the stand-
32 ards, the department shall consider the most current applicable stand-
33 ards of a nationally-recognized society or societies of heating,
34 refrigeration, and air conditioning engineers.
35 2. The department may establish a procedure where any provision or
36 requirement of the indoor air quality regulations may be varied or modi-
37 fied in cases where strict compliance would entail practical difficul-
38 ties or unnecessary hardship or would otherwise be unwarranted. The
39 procedure shall be designed to insure that any variance or modification
40 shall not substantially adversely affect provisions for health, safety
41 and security, and that equally safe and proper alternatives may be
42 prescribed. Requests for a variance shall be resolved within sixty days
43 of the date of application unless a longer period is required for good
44 cause shown.
45 § 4924. Indoor air investigations. 1. Upon receipt of a complaint or
46 complaints excluding complaints in relation to temperature of indoor air
47 quality relating to a building from three or more occupants of the
48 building or, from a tenant of all or part of the building, the building
49 owner or designee shall initiate an investigation of the complaint or
50 complaints. The building owner shall respond in writing within thirty
51 days indicating the results of the initial investigation and any correc-
52 tive actions taken or pending.
53 2. If the complainant is dissatisfied with the response to the
54 complaint, the complainant may file a formal complaint with the commis-
55 sioner, who may initiate an investigation of the complaint. The
56 complaint shall be in writing and indicate the grounds for the complain-
S. 1852 4
1 ant and shall be signed by the complainant. A copy shall be provided by
2 the commissioner to the building owner or the person designated for such
3 purposes promptly, and in any event prior to any inspection by the
4 department. On the request of complainant, the complainant's name shall
5 be withheld. The complainant or a representative of the complainant
6 shall be given the opportunity to accompany the department's inspector
7 during an inspection for the purpose of aiding such inspection.
8 3. If the commissioner determines that an indoor air quality problem
9 exists in a building, such commissioner shall issue in writing to the
10 building owner and complainant such findings and any proposed means of
11 correcting such problems. The building owner or representative shall
12 respond to the findings within thirty days including any plans for
13 correcting the indoor air quality problem. The building owner or repre-
14 sentative shall notify the commissioner of actions taken to correct such
15 problems.
16 § 4925. Training course. The department, in consultation with the
17 department of labor, and nationally recognized societies of industrial
18 hygiene, fire prevention and heating, refrigeration, and air condition-
19 ing, shall develop model courses in the operation and maintenance of
20 heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. The commissioner
21 shall have authority to approve programs in heating, ventilation and air
22 conditioning operation and maintenance and shall maintain a list of
23 approved programs, which shall be made available to interested parties
24 upon request. The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations
25 setting forth the criteria for approval of such programs.
26 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of September next
27 succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
