Minnesota Session Laws - 1983, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1983 

                        CHAPTER 316--H.F.No. 242
           An act relating to labor; providing for occupational 
          safety and health; defining "hazardous substance" and 
          "harmful physical agent"; requiring manufacturers of 
          hazardous substances or harmful physical agents to 
          provide certain information; creating a right to 
          refuse to work under conditions violating the state 
          occupational safety and health act; creating a right 
          to refuse to work with a hazardous substance or 
          harmful physical agent under certain conditions; 
          requiring employers using hazardous substances and 
          harmful physical agents to provide employees with 
          certain training and information; requiring that 
          hazardous substances and harmful physical agents be 
          labeled under certain circumstances; requiring 
          training of hospital employees; prohibiting waiver of 
          any employee rights under the state occupational 
          safety and health act; clarifying relation of 
          bargaining agreements to safety laws; providing 
          protection for trade secrets; providing penalties; 
          appropriating money; amending Minnesota Statutes 1982, 
          sections 182.651, by adding subdivisions; 182.653, by 
          adding subdivisions; 182.654, subdivision 7, and by 
          adding subdivisions; 182.655, subdivisions 4, 10, 11, 
          and by adding a subdivision; 182.658; 182.66, 
          subdivision 1; 182.663, subdivision 3; 182.666, by 
          adding a subdivision; and 182.668; proposing new law 
          coded in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 182. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  [182.65] [Subd. 1a.] [SHORT TITLE.] 
    This act shall be known as the "Employee Right to Know Act 
of 1983."  
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.651, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 14.  "Hazardous substance" means a chemical or 
substance, or mixture of chemicals and substances, which:  
    (a) is regulated by the federal Occupational Safety and 
Health Administration under title 29 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations part 1910, subpart Z; or 
    (b) is either toxic or highly toxic; an irritant; 
corrosive; a strong oxidizer; a strong sensitizer; combustible; 
either flammable or extremely flammable; dangerously reactive; 
pyrophoric or pressure-generating; compressed gas; carcinogen; 
teratogen; mutagen; reproductive toxic agent; or that otherwise, 
according to generally accepted documented medical or scientific 
evidence, may cause substantial acute or chronic personal injury 
or illness during or as a direct result of any customary or 
reasonably foreseeable accidental or intentional exposure to the 
chemical or substance; or 
    (c) is determined by the commissioner as a part of the 
standard for the chemical or substance or mixture of chemicals 
and substances to present a significant risk to worker health 
and safety or imminent danger of death or serious physical harm 
to an employee as a result of foreseeable use, handling, 
accidental spill, exposure, or contamination.  
    In determining whether a chemical or substance is hazardous 
under clause (b) or clause (c), the commissioner shall, if 
appropriate, apply the criteria contained in the American 
National Standard Institute's American National Standard for the 
Precautionary Labeling of Hazardous Industrial Chemicals, 
Z129.1-1982, or any later revision of that standard.  In 
addition the commissioner may consider the information contained 
in appendices which do not appear in the standard and any other 
available scientific evidence which substantially indicates a 
chemical or substance or mixture of chemicals and substances is 
hazardous.  
    Hazardous substance does not include a substance being 
developed or handled by a technically qualified individual in a 
research, medical research, medical diagnostic or medical 
educational laboratory or in a health care facility or in a 
clinic associated with the laboratory or health care facility, 
or in a pharmacy registered and licensed under chapter 151. This 
exemption applies only to technically qualified individuals and 
not to persons working in the same work area who are not 
technically qualified individuals.  
    Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.651, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 15.  "Harmful physical agent" means a physical agent 
determined by the commissioner as a part of the standard for 
that agent to present a significant risk to worker health or 
safety or imminent danger of death or serious physical harm to 
an employee.  This definition includes but is not limited to 
radiation, whether ionizing or nonionizing.  
    Harmful physical agent does not include an agent being 
developed or utilized by a technically qualified individual in a 
research, medical research, medical diagnostic or medical 
educational laboratory or in a health care facility or in a 
clinic associated with the laboratory or health care facility, 
or in a pharmacy registered and licensed under chapter 151.  The 
exemption in this clause does not include a physical agent 
utilized in a laboratory that primarily provides a quality 
control analysis for a manufacturing process.  This exemption 
applies only to technically qualified individuals and not to 
persons working in the same work area who are not technically 
qualified individuals.  
    Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.651, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 16.  "Technically qualified individual" means a 
person who, because of professional or technical education, 
training or experience, understands, at the time of exposure, 
the health risks and the necessary safety precautions associated 
with each hazardous substance, harmful physical agent, 
infectious agent or mixture handled or utilized by the person.  
    The commissioner shall by rule adopt a standard which 
specifies the criteria to be considered in determining whether 
or not a person is a technically qualified individual.  
    Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.651, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 17.  For the purposes of chapter 182, the 
determination of what is a hazardous substance or harmful 
physical agent is part of the occupational safety and health 
standard concerning that substance or agent adopted under 
section 182.655, subject only to the rulemaking procedure which 
the whole standard is subject to under section 182.655.  
    Sec. 6.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.651, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 18.  The following substances or mixtures are not 
hazardous substances if they are:  
    (a) products intended for personal consumption by employees 
in the workplace;  
    (b) consumer products packaged for distribution to, and 
used by, the general public, including any product used by an 
employer or the employer's employees in the same form, 
concentration, and manner as it is sold to consumers, and to the 
employer's knowledge, employee exposure is not significantly 
greater than the consumer exposure occurring during principal 
consumer use of the product;  
    (c) any article, including but not limited to, an item of 
equipment or hardware, which contains a hazardous substance, if 
the substance is present in a solid form which does not create a 
health hazard as a result of being handled by an employee;  
    (d) any hazardous substance that is bound and not released 
under normal conditions of work or in a reasonably foreseeable 
occurrence resulting from workplace operations;  
    (e) products sold or used in retail food sale 
establishments and all other retail trade establishments, 
exclusive of processing and repair work areas; or 
    (f) any waste material regulated pursuant to the federal 
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Public Law 94-580, but 
only with respect to any employer in a business which provides a 
service of collection, processing, or disposal of such waste.  
     The commissioner may, by inclusion in the standards adopted 
pursuant to section 182.655, determine whether any of the 
following may be excluded from the definitions of hazardous 
substance or harmful physical agent:  
    (a) waste products labeled pursuant to the Resource 
Conservation and Recovery Act;  
    (b) any substance received by an employee in a sealed 
package and subsequently sold or transferred in that package, if 
the seal remains intact while the substance is in the employer's 
workplace; or 
    (c) any substance, mixture, or product if present in a 
physical state, volume, or concentration for which there is no 
valid and substantial evidence that a significant risk to human 
health may occur from exposure.  
    Sec. 7.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.651, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 19.  "Manufacturer" means anyone who produces, 
synthesizes, extracts, or otherwise makes, processes, blends, 
packages or repackages a hazardous substance or harmful physical 
agent.  The term manufacturer also includes anyone who imports 
into this state or distributes within this state a hazardous 
substance or harmful physical agent.  Manufacturer does not 
include anyone whose primary business concerning the hazardous 
substance or harmful physical agent is in retail sales to the 
public.  
    Sec. 8.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.653, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 4a.  An employer who is a manufacturer of a hazardous 
substance or a harmful physical agent or a mixture of substances 
or agents shall provide an employer who purchases the substance 
or agent with the information necessary for the purchasing 
employer to comply with section 9 or 10.  The information shall 
be provided at the time of purchase and shall be current, 
accurate, and complete for each substance, agent or mixture.  
    For a mixture of hazardous substances, the manufacturer may 
provide the information required by this section on the entire 
product mixture, instead of on each hazardous substance in it, 
if all of the following conditions are met:  hazard test 
information exists on the mixture itself or adequate information 
exists to form a valid judgment of the hazardous proportions of 
the mixture itself and the manufacturer indicates that the 
conclusions drawn are from some source other than direct testing 
on the mixture; information on the mixture will be as effective 
in protecting employee health as information on the ingredients; 
and the hazardous substances in the mixture are identified 
together, with the information on the mixture.  
    Sec. 9.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.653, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 4b.  Prior to an employee's initial assignment to a 
workplace where the employee may be routinely exposed to a 
hazardous substance or harmful physical agent, the employer 
shall provide training concerning the hazardous substance or 
harmful physical agent.  The employer shall provide additional 
instruction whenever the employee may be routinely exposed to 
any additional hazardous substance or harmful physical agent. 
The term "routinely exposed" includes the exposure of an 
employee to a hazardous substance when assigned to work in an 
area where a hazardous substance has been spilled.  
    For each hazardous substance to which the employee may be 
routinely exposed, the employer's training program shall include:
    (a) the name or names of the substance including any 
generic or chemical name, trade name, and commonly used name;  
    (b) the level, if any and if known, at which exposure to 
the substance has been determined to be safe according to 
standards adopted by the commissioner, or, if no standard has 
been adopted, according to guidelines established by competent 
professional groups including but not limited to the American 
Industrial Hygiene Association, the American Conference of 
Governmental Industrial Hygienists, the Center for Disease 
Control, the Bureau of Radiological Health, and the American 
National Standards Institute;  
    (c) the known acute and chronic effects of exposure at 
hazardous levels;  
    (d) the known symptoms of the effects;  
    (e) any potential for flammability, explosion, or 
reactivity of the substance;  
    (f) appropriate emergency treatment;  
    (g) the known proper conditions for safe use of and 
exposure to the substance;  
    (h) procedures for cleanup of leaks and spills;  
    (i) the name, phone number and address of the manufacturer 
of the hazardous substance; and 
    (j) a written copy of all of the above information which 
shall be readily accessible in the area or areas in which the 
hazardous substance is used or handled.  
    Employees who have been routinely exposed to a hazardous 
substance prior to the effective date of this act and who 
continue to be routinely exposed to that hazardous substance 
after the effective date of this act, shall be trained with 
respect to that hazardous substance within six months of the 
effective date of this act.  
    Training to update the information required to be provided 
under this subdivision shall be repeated at intervals no greater 
than one year.  
    Every employer shall maintain current information for 
training under this subdivision or for information requests by 
employees under section 16.  
    This subdivision does not apply to any employer engaged in 
a farming operation.  
     This subdivision does not apply to any small business.  
    Sec. 10.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.653, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 4c.  For each harmful physical agent to which an 
employee may be routinely exposed, the employer's training 
program shall include the information required by the standard 
for that physical agent as determined by the commissioner, 
including but not limited to:  
    (a) the name or names of the physical agent including any 
commonly used synonym;  
    (b) the level, if any and if known, at which exposure to 
the physical agent has been determined to be safe according to 
standards adopted by the commissioner, or, if no standard has 
been adopted, according to guidelines established by competent 
professional groups including but not limited to the American 
Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, the Center for 
Disease Control, the Bureau of Radiological Health, and the 
American National Standards Institute;  
    (c) the known acute and chronic effects of exposure at 
hazardous levels;  
    (d) the known symptoms of the effects;  
    (e) appropriate emergency treatment;  
    (f) the known proper conditions for safe use of and 
exposure to the physical agent;  
    (g) the name, phone number and address, if appropriate, of 
the manufacturer of the harmful physical agent; and 
    (h) a written copy of all of the above information which 
shall be readily accessible in the area or areas in which the 
harmful physical agent is present and where the employee may be 
exposed to the agent through use, handling or otherwise.  
    Employees who have been routinely exposed to a harmful 
physical agent prior to the effective date of this act and who 
continue to be routinely exposed to that harmful physical agent 
after the effective date of this act, shall be trained with 
respect to that harmful physical agent within six months of the 
effective date of this act.  
    Training to update the information required to be provided 
under this subdivision shall be repeated at intervals no greater 
than one year.  
    Every employer shall maintain current information for 
training under this subdivision or for information requests by 
employees under section 16.  
     This subdivision does not apply to any employer engaged in 
a farming operation.  
    Sec. 11.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.653, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 4d.  Each employer who is in the business of 
providing a service of collection, processing, or disposal of 
waste regulated pursuant to the federal Resource Conservation 
and Recovery Act, Public Law 94-580, shall provide employees who 
are routinely exposed to this waste a general safety training 
program approved by the commissioner.  This training program 
shall be appropriate for the seriousness of the safety hazards 
commonly encountered by the employees and shall include: 
training concerning the general safety hazards involved in the 
collection, processing, or disposal of the waste; proper safety 
procedures to avoid the deleterious effects of these hazards; 
and common symptoms of the deleterious effects.  Training shall 
be provided to employees within 60 days of the commissioner's 
approval of the training program, or, if the employee is 
employed after this 60-day period, prior to the employees' 
initial assignment where they will be routinely exposed to 
waste.  The employer's safety training program shall be 
submitted to the commissioner for approval within two months of 
the effective date of this act.  Refresher courses reviewing the 
information of the training program shall be given to employees 
at intervals no greater than one year.  
    Sec. 12.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.653, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 4e.  Each employer who is engaged in a farming 
operation and employs more than ten employees or maintains a 
temporary labor camp shall comply with a training program, 
developed by the commissioner, concerning the hazardous 
substances and harmful physical agents to which the employees 
are routinely exposed.  The commissioner shall develop this 
training program in consultation with experts in agricultural 
work environment hazards and an advisory task force appointed by 
the commissioner, consisting of three representatives of 
agricultural employers and three representatives of agricultural 
employees.  The program shall be designed to fulfill the same 
purposes as training under subdivisions 4b and 4c of this 
section, but take into account factors unique to farming 
operations.  These factors shall include but not be limited to 
the fact that many agricultural employees' primary language is 
Spanish and the fact that many chemicals used by agricultural 
employers are labeled under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, 
and Rodenticide Act.  The commissioner shall complete 
implementation of this program within 1-1/2 years after the 
effective date of this act.  
    Every employer shall have the right to request that their 
employees sign statements that they have received appropriate 
training under this subdivision, once such training has been 
completed.  
    Sec. 13.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.653, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
     Subd. 4f.  Each employer who operates a hospital or clinic 
shall provide training according to a program developed by the 
commissioner by rule with approval of the commissioner of health 
to its employees who are routinely exposed to an infectious 
agent.  The training shall include the information required by 
the rule for that agent as developed by the commissioner and 
shall include, if known, names of infectious agents to which the 
employee is routinely exposed, proper techniques for the 
employee to avoid self-contamination, and symptoms and effects 
of contamination.  Training shall be provided upon the initial 
assignment of the employee to a job where that person will be 
routinely exposed to an infectious agent.  Existing inservice, 
hospital licensure or certification programs which the 
commissioner determines substantially comply with the rules 
adopted pursuant to this subdivision may be certified by the 
commissioner to satisfy all or a part of the rules.  "Infectious 
agent" means a communicable bacterium, virus, or fungus 
determined by the commissioner by rule, with approval of the 
commissioner of health, which according to documented medical or 
scientific evidence causes substantial acute or chronic illness 
or permanent disability as a forseeable and direct result of any 
routine exposure to the infectious agent.  Infectious agent does 
not include an agent in or on the body of a patient before 
diagnosis.  
    Infectious agent does not include an agent being developed 
or regularly utilized by a technically qualified individual in a 
research, medical research, medical diagnostic or medical 
educational laboratory or in a health care facility or in a 
clinic associated with a laboratory or health care facility, or 
in a pharmacy registered and licensed under chapter 151.  The 
exemption in this clause does not include an infectious agent 
utilized in a laboratory that primarily provides a quality 
control analysis for a manufacturing process.  
    Employees who have been routinely exposed to an infectious 
agent prior to the effective date of this act and who continue 
to be routinely exposed to that infectious agent after the 
effective date of this act, shall be trained with respect to 
that infectious agent within six months of the effective date of 
this act.  
    Training to update the information required to be provided 
under this subdivision shall be repeated at intervals no greater 
than one year.  
     Sec. 14.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.653, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read:  
     Subd. 4g.  Every employer shall have the right to request 
that their employees sign statements that they have received 
appropriate training under this subdivision, once training has 
been completed.  
    Sec. 15.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.654, 
subdivision 7, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 7.  Any An employee who has been exposed or is being 
exposed to toxic materials hazardous substances or harmful 
physical agents in concentrations or at levels in excess of that 
provided for by any an applicable standard shall be provided by 
his the employer with the opportunities provided in section 
182.655, subdivision 10 10a.  
    Sec. 16.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.654, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read:  
    Subd. 10.  An employee, except an employee employed in a 
farming operation with ten or fewer employees and no temporary 
labor camp, or the designated representative of the employee has 
the right to request and receive from the employer, within a 
reasonable period of time, access to information the employer is 
required to provide the employee under section 9, 10, 11 or 12. 
For the purposes of this subdivision and section 27, subdivision 
5, "designated representative" means a labor organization, as 
defined in section 179.01, subdivision 6, that represents 
employees under a valid collective bargaining agreement, or 
another employee whom an employee or former employee has 
authorized, in writing, to exercise the employee's rights under 
chapter 182.  
    Every employee employed in a farming operation with ten or 
fewer employees and no temporary labor camp, and any 
agricultural employee association or union representing that 
employee, shall have the right, upon request, to receive from 
their employer, within a reasonable period of time, any 
information on a label that is required by any federal or state 
health and safety law to be on the container of any substance or 
chemical to which the employee is routinely exposed.  
    Sec. 17.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.654, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 11.  An employee acting in good faith has the right 
to refuse to work under conditions which the employee reasonably 
believes present an imminent danger of death or serious physical 
harm to the employee.  
    A reasonable belief of imminent danger of death or serious 
physical harm includes but is not limited to a reasonable belief 
of the employee that the employee has been assigned to work with 
a hazardous substance, harmful physical agent or infectious 
agent under conditions which are inconsistent with the training 
or information provided by the employer pursuant to section 9, 
clauses (g) or (h), section 10, clause (f), section 11, section 
12, section 13, or section 16.  
    An employer may not discriminate against an employee for a 
good faith refusal to perform assigned tasks if the employee has 
requested that the employer correct the hazardous conditions but 
the conditions remain uncorrected.  
    An employee who has refused in good faith to perform 
assigned tasks and who has not been reassigned to other tasks by 
the employer shall, in addition to retaining a right to 
continued employment, receive pay for the tasks which would have 
been performed if (1) the employee requests the commissioner to 
inspect and determine the nature of the hazardous condition, and 
(2) the commissioner determines that the employee, by performing 
the assigned tasks, would have been placed in imminent danger of 
death or serious physical harm; or (3) the employee requests the 
commissioner to inspect and determine if a hazardous condition 
exists, and (4) the commissioner determines that the employer 
has failed to provide the training required under section 9, 10, 
11, 12 or 13 prior to the employee's initial assignment to a 
workplace where the employee may be routinely exposed to a 
hazardous substance or harmful physical agent and the employer 
has failed to provide the information required under section 9, 
10, 11, 12 or 13 after a request pursuant to section 16 within a 
reasonable period of time, but not to exceed 24 hours, of the 
request.  
    Sec. 18.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.655, 
subdivision 4, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 4.  The commissioner, in promulgating adopting 
standards dealing with toxic materials hazardous substances or 
harmful physical agents under this section, shall set the 
standard which most adequately assures, to the extent feasible, 
on the basis of the best available evidence, that no employee 
will suffer material impairment of health or functional capacity 
even if such the employee has regular exposure to the hazard 
dealt with by such the standard for the period of his the 
employee's working life.  Development of standards under this 
subdivision shall be based upon research, demonstrations, 
experiments, and such other information as may be appropriate.  
In addition to the attainment of the highest degree of health 
and safety protection for the employee, other considerations 
shall be the latest available scientific data in the field, the 
feasibility of the standards, and experience gained under this 
and other health and safety laws.  Whenever practicable, the 
standard promulgated adopted shall be expressed in the terms of 
objective criteria and of the performance desired.  
    Sec. 19.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.655, 
subdivision 10, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 10.  Any standard promulgated adopted under this 
section shall prescribe the use of labels or other appropriate 
forms of warning as are necessary to insure that employees are 
apprised of all hazards to which they are exposed, relevant 
symptoms and appropriate emergency treatment, and proper 
conditions and precautions of safe use or exposure.  Where 
appropriate, such standards shall also prescribe suitable 
protective equipment, if feasible engineering and administrative 
methods of protection alone do not provide adequate protection, 
and this equipment shall be made available by or at the cost of 
the employer.  Such standards shall provide for monitoring or 
measuring employee exposure at such locations and intervals and 
in such manner as may be necessary and appropriate for the 
protection of employees.  In addition, where appropriate, any 
such standard shall prescribe the type and frequency of medical 
examinations or other tests which shall be made available by the 
employer, or at his cost, to employees exposed to such hazards 
in order to most effectively determine whether the health of 
such employees is adversely affected by such exposure.  The 
results of such examinations or tests shall be furnished only to 
the commissioner and, at the request of the employee, to his 
physician.  
    In the case of containers containing a hazardous substance 
or a harmful physical agent, a label is required as an 
appropriate form of warning in providing substantially the same 
information as required under sections 9, 10 or 12.  A label may 
be a coded reference to an appropriate and accessible data sheet 
containing the information required under sections 9, 10 or 12. 
When appropriate, a current data sheet may be affixed to or 
posted in accessible close proximity to a container containing a 
hazardous substance or a harmful physical agent in satisfaction 
of standards adopted for labels under this chapter.  Containers 
may be labeled pursuant to federal or state labeling 
requirements that the commissioner certifies as satisfying the 
labeling standards adopted under this chapter.  
    Sec. 20.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.655, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 10a.  Where appropriate, standards shall prescribe 
suitable protective equipment, if feasible engineering and 
administrative methods of protection alone do not provide 
adequate protection, and this equipment shall be made available 
by or at the cost of the employer.  The standards shall also 
provide for monitoring or measuring employee exposure at the 
locations and intervals and in the manner as may be necessary 
and appropriate for the protection of employees.  Where 
appropriate, a standard shall prescribe the type and frequency 
of medical examinations or other tests which shall be made 
available by the employer, or at the employer's cost, to 
employees exposed to hazards in order to most effectively 
determine whether the health of those employees is adversely 
affected by the exposure.  The results of these examinations or 
tests shall be furnished only to the commissioner, the 
employee's physician, at the request of the employee, and the 
employer with notice to the employee.  
    Sec. 21.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.655, 
subdivision 11, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 11.  The commissioner shall provide for adopt an 
emergency temporary standard to take immediate effect upon 
publication if he the commissioner determines: 
    (a) That employees are exposed to grave or imminent danger 
from exposure to hazardous substances or harmful physical agents 
determined to be toxic or physically harmful or from new or 
other hazards; and 
    (b) That such the emergency standard is necessary to 
protect employees from such the danger.  Such The standard shall 
be effective until superseded by a standard promulgated adopted 
in accordance with the procedures prescribed in subdivision 2.  
    Upon publication of such the standard or standards, which 
interested persons may receive upon request and payment of fees, 
the commissioner shall commence a proceeding in accordance with 
subdivision 2 and the standard as published shall also serve as 
a proposed rule for the proceeding; the commissioner shall 
promulgate adopt a standard under this section no later than six 
months after the publication of the emergency standard.  
    Sec. 22.  [182.6575] [WAIVER PROHIBITED.] 
    No employer may request or require any employee to waive 
any rights under this chapter or under occupational safety and 
health standards adopted pursuant to this chapter.  
    Sec. 23.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.658, is 
amended to read: 
    182.658 [POSTING REQUIREMENTS.] 
    The commissioner shall issue regulations requiring that 
employers, through posting of notices or other appropriate 
means, keep their employees informed of their protections and 
obligations under Laws 1973, Chapter 732 chapter 182 including 
the provisions of applicable standards.  
    Sec. 24.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.66, 
subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
    Subdivision 1.  If, upon After an inspection or 
investigation, if the commissioner believes that an employer has 
violated a requirement of section 182.653, subdivisions 2 to 4, 
or any standard, rule, regulation or order prescribed adopted 
pursuant to Laws 1973, Chapter 732, he this chapter, the 
commissioner shall, with reasonable promptness and in no event 
later than six months following the inspection, issue a written 
citation to the employer by certified mail a written citation.  
The citation shall be in writing and shall describe with 
particularity the nature of the violation, including a reference 
to the provision of the act, standard, rule, regulation or order 
alleged to have been violated.  In addition, the citation shall 
fix a reasonable time for the abatement of the violation.  
     Sec. 25.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.663, 
subdivision 3, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 3.  The commissioner shall issue regulations adopt 
rules requiring employers to maintain accurate records of 
employee exposures to potentially toxic materials hazardous 
substances or harmful physical agents which are required to be 
monitored under Laws 1973, Chapter 732 this chapter.  Such 
regulations The rules shall provide employees or their 
representatives with an opportunity to have access to the 
records thereof.  Such regulations The rules shall provide 
employees or their representatives with an opportunity to 
observe such the monitoring or measuring and to have access to 
the records thereto and reports of the monitoring and 
measuring.  In order to carry out the provisions of this 
section, such regulations the rules may include provisions 
requiring employers to conduct periodic inspections.  Each An 
employer shall promptly notify any an employee who has been or 
is being exposed to toxic materials hazardous substances or 
harmful physical agents in concentrations or at levels which 
exceed those prescribed by an applicable occupational safety and 
health standard promulgated adopted under Laws 1973, Chapter 732 
chapter 182, and shall inform any employee who is being thus 
exposed of the corrective action being taken.  
    Sec. 26.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.666, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read:  
    Subd. 5a.  Any employer who knowingly violates section 22 
shall be assessed a fine of up to $1,000 for each violation. The 
employer shall also be liable to each aggrieved employee for 
civil punitive damages of $200.  
    Sec. 27.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 182.668, is 
amended to read:  
    182.668 [PROTECTION OF TRADE SECRETS.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [REGISTRATION.] Subject to the restrictions 
on the withholding of information pursuant to 8 MCAR section 
1.7001, a manufacturer or employer who believes that all or a 
part of the information required under sections 8, 9, 10, 12 or 
13 or requested under section 16 is a trade secret as defined in 
section 325C.01, subdivision 5, may register the information 
with the commissioner as trade secret information.  
    Subd. 2.  [CLASSIFICATION OF DATA.] Information that has 
been registered pursuant to subdivision 1 shall be classified as 
nonpublic or private data as defined in section 13.02, 
subdivisions 9 and 12.  
    All other information reported to or otherwise obtained by 
the commissioner or his a representative in connection with any 
inspection or proceeding under Laws 1973, chapter 732 182 which 
contains or which might reveal a trade secret shall be 
considered confidential except that such classified as nonpublic 
or private data as defined in section 13.02, subdivisions 9 and 
12.  Information classified as nonpublic or private may be 
disclosed to other officers or employees concerned with carrying 
out Laws 1973, chapter 732 182 or when relevant in any 
proceeding under Laws 1973, this chapter 732 or when otherwise 
required in order to comply with federal law or regulation but 
only to the extent required by the federal law or regulation.  
    Subd. 3.  [DETERMINATION BY COMMISSIONER.] On the request 
of a manufacturer, employer, employee or employee 
representative, the commissioner shall determine whether 
information registered pursuant to subdivision 1 or otherwise 
reported to or obtained by the commissioner is a trade secret as 
defined in section 325C.01, subdivision 5.  In making a 
determination the commissioner shall also determine whether the 
information should in any event be disclosed in order to 
properly protect the health and safety of employees.  
    An employer or manufacturer that disagrees with a 
determination under this subdivision may pursue its remedies as 
provided in chapter 325C or other relevant law.  
     Subd. 4.  [ORDERS.] The commissioner shall issue such 
orders as may be appropriate to protect the confidentiality 
classification of trade secrets by allowing and may, upon at 
the request of an employer any authorized representative of 
employees, in inspections of trade secrets areas or in 
discussions involving trade secrets, allow an authorized 
representative of employees to be replaced by an employee 
authorized by the employer; by permitting.  The commissioner may 
also allow the employer to screen out trade secret details where 
photographs are deemed essential to the investigation; and by 
allowing the employer to restrict samples to be taken where 
trade secrets might be exposed.  
    Subd. 5.  [RESTRICTIONS ON DISCLOSURE.] Information 
provided to an employee or designated representative pursuant to 
sections 8, 9, 10, 12, or 16 which has been determined by the 
commissioner to be a trade secret shall not be disclosed to 
anyone except as required for medical treatment or as otherwise 
required in chapter 182.  An employee, designated representative 
or other person who knowingly discloses information in violation 
of this subdivision or any person knowingly receiving the 
information is subject to the provisions of section 609.52 
relating to the theft of trade secrets and to the civil 
liabilities provided by chapter 325C or other relevant law.  
    Sec. 28.  [182.675] [RELATIONSHIP TO COLLECTIVE 
BARGAINING.] 
    Although not required, an employee or employer may seek to 
resolve any dispute arising under this chapter through 
resolution procedures provided by any applicable labor agreement 
or, if there is no applicable provision of a labor agreement, 
through a dispute resolution procedure to be developed by the 
commissioner.  The employee is not deemed to have waived or lost 
any substantive or procedural rights under this chapter due to 
resort to the resolution methods and may pursue all legal 
remedies under this chapter without any prejudice due to the 
results of these resolution methods.  The commissioner may adopt 
temporary rules to develop a dispute resolution procedure. 
Nothing in this chapter is deemed to prevent the creation of 
additional rights or remedies for employees pursuant to a labor 
agreement or personnel rule.  
    Sec. 29.  [INSTRUCTION TO REVISOR.] 
    Whenever the phrase "Laws 1973, Chapter 732" or a like 
phrase appears in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 182, the revisor 
of statutes shall substitute the phrase "this chapter" or 
"chapter 182."  
    Sec. 30.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
    The sum of $100,000 is appropriated from the general fund 
to the commissioner of labor and industry to administer the 
Employee Right to Know Act, to be available for the fiscal year 
ending June 30 in the years indicated.  Any unencumbered balance 
remaining in the first year does not cancel but is available for 
the second year of the biennium.  
                                               1984       1985  
                                             $50,000    $50,000 
    The department of labor and industry is directed to seek 
federal match from the occupational safety and health 
administration.  
    The approved complement of the department of labor and 
industry is increased by two positions.  
    Sec. 31.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
    Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 
16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 30 are 
effective January 1, 1984.  Section 17 is effective July 1, 
1984.  Section 29 is effective on the day following final 
enactment. 
    Approved June 14, 1983