Tier II Chemical Reporting in New Jersey: Who Files & How
Short answer: if your New Jersey facility stores a hazardous chemical at or above its EPCRA reporting threshold — generally 10,000 pounds, or as low as 500 pounds for an Extremely Hazardous Substance — you must file an annual Tier II chemical-inventory report by March 1, covering the prior calendar year. It goes to your State Emergency Response Commission (SERC), your Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), and your local fire department. In New Jersey the report is the Community Right to Know Survey, filed with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) — or with the Department of Health if you are a public-sector facility. The hardest part is compiling an accurate inventory with quantities — which is exactly what SDSentry ($24 per location per month) keeps current for you year-round. Here is how Tier II works in New Jersey.
Free, no signup: the SDS binder builder at sdsentry.0xpi.com/sds-binder.html turns a pasted list of the products you keep on site into one printable index of their current safety data sheets.
What Tier II is (and isn't)
Tier II is the annual chemical-inventory report required under Section 312 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). Its purpose is to tell fire departments and emergency planners what hazardous chemicals are stored at your facility, in what quantities, and where, so responders know what they are walking into. It is a separate obligation from OSHA Hazard Communication — the same chemicals on your shelves, but a different law and a different audience. Meeting your HazCom duties does not satisfy Tier II, and vice versa.
Who has to file in New Jersey
New Jersey applies two tests. The federal Tier II trigger applies here as everywhere: you must report if any hazardous chemical for which you are required to keep a safety data sheet is present at or above its threshold at any point during the year:
- 10,000 lbs for most hazardous chemicals (those that require an SDS).
- 500 lbs — or the chemical's Threshold Planning Quantity, whichever is lower — for Extremely Hazardous Substances (EHSs) on EPA's list.
On top of that, New Jersey's Worker and Community Right to Know Act covers facilities by industry. If your facility is in a NAICS code the state covers, you must respond to NJDEP every year even when you have nothing to report — NJDEP's FAQ: “A facility in a covered NAICS code, even with no EHSs, must comply with our program, in the form of a CRTK Reporting Exemption Form.” Some items also have lower state thresholds; lead or sulfuric acid in forklift, pallet-jack and backup-power batteries is reportable at 500 pounds for covered facilities. Quantities are the maximum present at any one time, aggregated across the facility.
Where New Jersey facilities submit
EPCRA sends every Tier II report to three places: your State Emergency Response Commission (SERC), your Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), and your local fire department.
New Jersey runs Tier II through its own state law, the Worker and Community Right to Know Act (regulations at N.J.A.C. 7:1G), layered on top of federal EPCRA. Private-sector facilities file the Community Right to Know Survey with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP); government-owned facilities file with the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH). The New Jersey State Emergency Response Commission (NJSERC), housed in the NJ Office of Emergency Management, oversees EPCRA planning and the LEPCs, but it is not where the survey is filed.
The survey is filed electronically only, as the eCRTK survey through the NJDEP Online portal at njdeponline.com; paper surveys are not accepted. Filing online does not send your copies to the LEPC and fire department — N.J.A.C. 7:1G-5.1 requires you to transmit a copy to your local fire department and LEPC, and facilities covered by the state Right to Know Act must also send copies to the local police department and the county Right to Know lead agency. Start from NJDEP's Submit Your CRTK Survey page.
New Jersey's program can reach further than federal Tier II. Facilities in NAICS codes the state covers must respond even with no reportable chemicals, using a CRTK Reporting Exemption Form, and NJDEP's own FAQ gives lower thresholds for some items — for example, lead or sulfuric acid in forklift, pallet-jack and backup power batteries is reportable once the facility's total reaches 500 pounds.
State systems and instructions can change year to year, so confirm current details with the NJDEP Right to Know program (or NJDOH for public-sector facilities) before you file.
The deadline
The deadline for facilities that report to NJDEP is March 1, for the previous calendar year, the same as the federal date. Public-sector facilities that report to the Department of Health have until July 15. Build in time before the deadline to gather quantities and have your preparer review them, because the last week of February is a poor time to discover your inventory list is out of date.
Are there New Jersey state fees?
New Jersey's Worker and Community Right to Know Act (N.J.S.A. 34:5A-26) has the Department of Labor assess each covered employer an annual fee of not less than $75 nor more than $4 per employee. That is a general Right to Know program assessment billed by the Department of Labor, not a per-survey filing charge. Under N.J.A.C. 7:1G-3.2, employers with no environmental hazardous substances at any facility, and administrative-office-only employers, are exempt from that assessment. Confirm how it applies to you with NJDEP.
What to have ready before you file
The report itself is mostly a structured list. What slows people down is assembling accurate underlying data. Before you start, have on hand:
- A complete chemical inventory for the location, with the product name and chemical identity for each item.
- The maximum quantity on site during the year and the average daily quantity, with units.
- Storage details — container type, pressure, temperature, and the specific location or building.
- Hazard information from each product's safety data sheet.
- Facility identifiers, emergency contacts, and (where required) latitude and longitude.
If you keep a current SDS library and a per-location inventory with quantities throughout the year, the February scramble largely disappears. See our guide on building a chemical inventory from scratch for a starting point.
How SDSentry helps
SDSentry tracks quantity and unit per item in your per-location inventory, flags items over a threshold you set, and exports an EPCRA Tier II CSV so your preparer is not rebuilding the inventory by hand each February. It keeps a current SDS on file for every product, which is where most of the hazard and storage details on the report come from. It will not submit the report for you — you still file through the eCRTK survey on NJDEP Online — but it turns the worst part, compiling and maintaining the data, into a download. Pair it with our HazCom compliance checklist so your OSHA and EPCRA obligations stay covered at the same time.
Track inventory for Tier II — free trial
Frequently asked questions
Who do I send my Tier II report to in New Jersey?
In New Jersey the Tier II-equivalent report is the Community Right to Know Survey. Private-sector facilities file it electronically with NJDEP through NJDEP Online (the eCRTK survey); government facilities file with the Department of Health. You must also send copies to your local fire department and LEPC, and facilities covered by the state Right to Know Act also send copies to the local police and the county lead agency.
When is the Tier II deadline in New Jersey?
March 1 for facilities that report to NJDEP, covering the prior calendar year. Public-sector facilities that report to the New Jersey Department of Health have until July 15.
What are the Tier II reporting thresholds?
You report if a hazardous chemical that requires a safety data sheet is on site at or above 10,000 pounds at any time during the year, or at or above 500 pounds — or the Threshold Planning Quantity, whichever is lower — for an Extremely Hazardous Substance. Quantities are the maximum amount present at any one time. New Jersey's own program can set lower thresholds for some items, such as 500 pounds of lead or sulfuric acid in batteries at facilities in covered NAICS codes.
Is there a New Jersey state fee for Tier II?
New Jersey's Right to Know Act has the Department of Labor assess covered employers an annual fee of at least $75 and up to $4 per employee. It is a program assessment rather than a per-survey filing fee, and employers with no environmental hazardous substances are exempt. Confirm with NJDEP.