(a) Dissemination to local agencies.--The department shall ensure that each of its regional offices makes available to the public the MSDS's and other information required under this act. The department shall further make immediately available any MSDS's and any completed hazardous substance or environmental hazard surveys for a particular county to the appropriate local police, fire or other emergency response agency, upon said agency's request, if the same has not already been obtained.

(b) New information.--Whenever a supplier receives or discovers any relevant new information regarding a hazardous substance, the supplier shall make such information available to the department and to all employers to which the supplier provides said substance. The employer shall, in turn, make such information available to employees and the employees' representatives, upon receipt of such new information.

(c) Copy of data available to employees.--An employer shall furnish, upon the request of an employee or employee representative, any of the following:

(d) Furnishing information.--Upon the written request of an employee or employee representative, the employer shall furnish a copy of the requested MSDS or the HSFS to said employee within five days of receipt of the written request. If the requested MSDS or HSFS is in the possession of the employer and the employer fails to give said information to the employee or employee representative within five days, the employee shall have the right to refuse to work with the specific hazardous substance without penalty to said employee until such time as the information requested is provided. If the requested information is not in the possession of the employer, the employer shall notify, in writing, said employee within five days of the receipt of the employee's written request that the information is not in the employer's possession. Within 15 days of the employer's written notification to the employee, the employer shall attempt to obtain the requested information from the supplier and the department and shall document such attempts. Upon receipt of the employer's request, the department shall immediately attempt to obtain the requested information from the supplier and notify the employer of that attempt. If, at the end of the 15-day period, the supplier does not respond to the employer's and the department's request, the employer and the department shall give to the employee all hazardous substance information required by this act in the employer's or department's possession. The employee shall have the right to refuse to work without penalty until the requested information is furnished unless the employer and the department have taken all actions prescribed by this section. Reassignment of an employee to other work, at equal pay and benefits, shall not be considered a penalty under this subsection.

(e) Information in the work area.--Every employer shall make readily available, in every work area, the Material Safety Data Sheet for every hazardous substance or hazardous mixture to which the employees working in said work area may be exposed. The Material Safety Data Sheets shall be made available in such a manner and in such numbers as to give every employee in that work area easy and unhindered access to the Material Safety Data Sheets without permission or intervention of management or any supervisor.

(f) Limitation on fees.--All Material Safety Data Sheets, educational and other materials shall be furnished by an employer to an employee or employee representative at no cost to the employee or employee representative. If the employee making the request has requested and received the same information about the same substance within the preceding 12 months, the employer may impose a reasonable charge, not to exceed the costs of reproduction, for that information. No fee shall be charged if that employee's job assignment has changed or there is new information available concerning any of the subjects about which information is required to be provided. In no event shall the employer charge fees pursuant to requests by a certified or recognized bargaining agent.

(g) Public access.--Any person living or working in Pennsylvania and who is not a competitor may request from the department a copy of the lists or forms required in section 3 which are present in a particular workplace, and any Material Safety Data Sheet or Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet on file and the department shall transmit the requested material within 45 days. Any request shall be treated by the department as confidential as to the name and address of the requestor. The department shall also make materials for its respective regions immediately available during business hours from its regional offices. Materials shall be available at a fee not to exceed the cost of reproducing them.