Municipal Coordinators

(1) Method of Appointment. A municipal coordinator shall be designated by a written document signed by the chief executive officer of a city or town. The designation document shall be a public record. The chief executive officer shall also designate in the same manner an acting municipal coordinator, who shall be authorized to exercise and perform all rights and duties of the municipal coordinator when the municipal coordinator is absent or incapacitated. The acting municipal coordinator shall be either the fire chief, fire commissioner, public health commissioner or public health officer, or that official who ordinarily assumes the other duties of the municipal coordinator during absence or incapacity, or a member of the board of selectmen in a town which lacks all of the aforesaid officials. The appropriate regional office of the Department shall be informed of the identity, business address, and telephone number of the municipal coordinator and acting municipal coordinator within 15 days of the appointment. (2) Requests for filing of MSDS. An employer may at any time be directed to file a copy of any or all MSDS(s) with the municipal coordinator of a community in which a workplace is located by a written request from the municipal coordinator addressed to the employer at that workplace, or other known business address of that employer. An employer must file all requested MSDSs with the municipal coordinator within four working days of receipt of a written request. If an employer fails to provide requested MSDS(s), the Department may provide them to the municipal coordinator upon request. (3) A municipal coordinator may allow staff and clerical employees acting under his or her direct supervision access to MSDS information for the purpose of performing clerical duties, without notice to employers. A municipal coordinator may allow employees under his or her supervision access to MSDS information for purposes related to the performance of their duties, where the information is directly related to imminent threats to public health or safety such employees may encounter in the course of their duties; upon allowing such access the municipal coordinator shall notify the relevant employer. The supervisor of a municipal coordinator shall have access to MSDS information for purposes related to the supervision of the municipal coordinator, without notice to employers. (4) Security. Any municipal coordinator who receives copies of any MSDS shall take reasonable measures to segregate all MSDSs from all public records and to safeguard said MSDSs from unauthorized disclosure, and shall provide notice of the consequences of unauthorized disclosure when allowing access to such information. The municipal coordinator shall retain all MSDSs received for a period of at least five years from the date of receipt.