Title 19 Part 428

General Municipal Law, section 209-u requires the reporting of the presence of hazardous materials in order to secure the health, safety, and welfare of the public, to protect those called upon to respond to an emergency, to encourage preparedness to meet any danger, and to promote planning for future demands for emergency services. This Part establishes the procedures through which insureds or policyholders as defined in the General Municipal Law, section 209-u (2)(a) and (3) shall regularly inform local fire departments of the presence of hazardous materials within the areas to which the departments provide protection. It prescribes the dates and manner in which notification of the presence of hazardous materials is to be filed, and the manner in which exemption procedures are to be followed.

An insured shall report those materials required to bear a label under regulations of the United States Department of Transportation (49 Code of Federal Regulations, parts 171 et seq.) in the quantities and amounts set out in the following table:

The completed form for the reporting of hazardous materials shall be filed annually with the chief of the appropriate fire department, fire corporation, or fire company having responsibility for fire protection of each location at which any such hazardous material may be found, and for which coverage is provided under a fire policy or any other policy which provides coverage for the peril of fire. Except as otherwise provided by this Part only one report, notwithstanding the number of policies involved, shall be filed not more than 30 days prior to nor later than the anniversary date of the insured's policy reported on the form. The anniversary date of a policy written for more than one year shall be considered as if written for successive policy periods or terms of one year.

Requests for exemption shall be in writing and shall be filed annually with the fire chief described in subdivision (a) of this section not more than 30 days before nor later than the anniversary date of the insured's fire insurance policy. Said chief may grant an extension of this deadline of up to 30 days to avoid undue hardship to the insured. All exemptions granted shall be in writing upon the report form, subscribed to by said chief, and shall expire one year from the date thereon. If an exemption has not been granted within 30 days of the filing of the request for exemption, the request shall be deemed denied. Upon notice that a request for exemption has been denied, or if 30 days have passed since the filing of a request for exemption and such exemption has not been granted, the insured shall file a completed report within the time prescribed in subdivision (a) of this section or within 15 days, whichever is later.

The appropriate fire chief may grant an exemption by reason of inspection when an insured, within the period prescribed by section 428.3 (b), requests in writing that said chief or his representative make an inspection of the insured's place of business. Such exemption may be made contingent upon an inspection occurring and a favorable report being rendered within 30 days of the granting of the contingent exemption. Unless the chief and the insured have mutually agreed to an extension of the time in which to conduct the inspection, the failure to conduct the inspection and issue the report within the 30 days shall cause the contingent exemption to abate, and the insured shall then file a completed report within 15 days.

The appropriate fire chief may grant a general exemption where he is satisfied, based upon observation and experience, that the firefighting capability of the insured is sufficient to defend against an emergency involving reportable materials.

The appropriate fire chief may grant any exemption based upon the need for confidentiality from the reporting of specific hazardous materials. This claim may only be asserted by an insured when the inclusion of the identity of a particular reportable material would reveal a trade secret fact related to that material. At the time of filing for an exemption based upon the need for confidentiality, the insured shall attest in writing to the truth of the following four statements:

In addition, the insured shall then attest, in writing, to the truth of one or more of the following statements:

If a claim of confidentiality is made for a specific hazardous material, the term “confidential” must be entered on the form under the class or classes within which the specific hazardous material falls.

General exemptions and exemptions based upon a need for confidentiality may be revoked if the conditions provided in subdivision (b) or (c) of this section no longer exist. Such revocation shall be in writing, and upon notice thereof, the insured shall within 15 days file a completed report form or such additional information as the fire chief may require to complete any form already on file with said chief.

Insurers may obtain report forms by sending their requests for forms to the Office of Fire Prevention and Control, New York State Department of State, One Commerce Plaza, 99 Washington Avenue, Suite 500, Albany, NY 12231-0001. Insurers are advised that to the extent feasible and subject to any rules of the insurance commissioner, such forms should be sent to insured together with the annual renewal or billing. Insureds requiring additional forms should contact their insurers or the Office of Fire Prevention and Control.