Chemical industry accidents, liability, and community right to know

Abstract

The communication of hazard information is now recognized as a vital feature of the new self-help efforts being made by workers and community residents to prevent industrial risks and avoid harem. Legislation at state and federal levels, regulatory actions, and common law doctrines now impose on industry the duty to warn of hazards, and also provide persons at risk with the right-to-know hazard information. Thus, hazard communication is more than a theory or moral imperative; it is now rooted in explicit and enforceable legal doctrines. Moreover, hazard communication is not an isolated development: it has broad implications for corporate management. The duty to warn imposed on industry carries with it two concomitant duties for industrial officials: the duty to identify hazards through reasonable efforts and the use of expertise so that the duty to warn will be meaningful; and the duty to act diligently to control or reduce the hazards, once they have been identified, so that the duty to warn will not be dispositive on the matter of corporate responsibility. Thus, three corporate functions for risk management are inextricably linked. Exercise of their rights under these doctrines, and of other authority for the right to know by persons who perceive they may be at risk provides the continuing pressure on industry and agencies to comply with these duties, and assures corporate accountability in carrying out the duties to identify, warn and act. Thus, powerful tools are now available for use in the new self-help era of occupational and environmental protection.