Tier II Chemical Reporting in New York: Who Must File & How

Short answer: if your New York facility stores a hazardous chemical at or above its EPCRA reporting threshold — generally 10,000 pounds, or as low as 500 pounds (or the chemical's Threshold Planning Quantity, whichever is lower) for an Extremely Hazardous Substance — you must file a Tier II chemical-inventory report by March 1 for the prior calendar year. In New York that report goes to the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC), your Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), and your local fire department. SDSentry ($24 per location per month) tracks quantity per item, flags anything over your threshold, and exports the inventory you need to file — so February isn't a scramble. Here's how it works in New York.

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.

Tier II is federal — New York collects it

Tier II reporting comes from the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), so the core rules — the thresholds, the March 1 deadline, and the data fields — are the same in every state. What changes from state to state is how you submit and to whom. New York runs its reporting through a State Emergency Response Commission, the body EPCRA requires every state to establish. Your job as a facility is to get the right inventory into the right hands by the deadline.

Who has to file in New York

Any facility required to keep a safety data sheet (SDS) for a hazardous chemical must file Tier II if that chemical is on site at or above its reporting threshold at any point during the year. The federal thresholds, which apply in New York, are:

• 10,000 lbs for most hazardous chemicals (the ones that require an SDS).
• 500 lbs — or the chemical's Threshold Planning Quantity (TPQ), whichever is lower — for Extremely Hazardous Substances (EHSs) on EPA's list.

Quantities are based on the maximum amount present at any one time, aggregated across the whole facility — not the average, and not the amount on March 1. A drum that's full for one week in July still counts at its full weight.

When and where it goes

Tier II reports are due annually by March 1 and cover the previous calendar year. Under EPCRA the report goes to three recipients:

• your State Emergency Response Commission (SERC) — in New York, the state-level body that receives Tier II submissions;
• your Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) for the area your facility is in; and
• the local fire department with jurisdiction over your facility.

In New York, Tier II reports go to the New York State Emergency Response Commission (NYSERC), administered through the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES). New York accepts online submissions through E-Plan, and DHSES states: “As of 2014, there is a $25 filing fee per facility.” If you do not pay the fee and file through E-Plan, DHSES asks for a hard-copy Tier II report by mail instead; it does not accept Tier II data on CD, zip drive or email attachment. Whether an electronic submission also counts for your locals is up to them: “County Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) and fire departments will determine whether or not electronic submission is a process that they are willing to accept.” Ask yours. Start at the state's Tier II page, dhses.ny.gov/tier-ii-reporting.

New York City is different. DHSES: “For industries located within the city limits of New York City, local Tier II submissions and questions should be sent to DEP.” The NYC Department of Environmental Protection runs the city's own Community Right-to-Know program under Local Law 26, with its own filing fee and requirements, so NYC facilities should start from DEP rather than the statewide page.

Do New York small facilities usually hit the threshold?

Often not. A typical clinic, shelter, shop, or small office stores cleaning and disinfection products in quantities well under 10,000 lbs. But the things that quietly add up are worth checking: bulk pool or spa chemicals, large propane or diesel tanks, stored heating oil, fertilizer, road salt brine additives, or a sizeable bulk supply of a single disinfectant. EHSs carry much lower thresholds, so a relatively small amount of the wrong chemical — chlorine, sulfuric acid, anhydrous ammonia — can trigger reporting on its own. The only way to know is to track your maximum on-site quantities.

Tier II is not OSHA HazCom

These two obligations cover the same chemicals for completely different reasons, and a New York facility can owe both. Tier II is an emergency-planning report — it helps responders know what's stored where. OSHA Hazard Communication is a worker-protection standard covering labels, training, the written program, and SDSs. Filing Tier II doesn't satisfy HazCom, and vice versa. If you're sorting out both, our HazCom compliance checklist covers the worker-protection side.

How SDSentry helps you prepare

SDSentry won't file your New York Tier II report for you, but it removes the worst part — rebuilding the inventory by hand every February. It 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 you can hand to your preparer or use to complete your state submission. Build the inventory once and keep it current all year, and the March 1 deadline becomes a download instead of a fire drill. New to building one? Start with how to build a chemical inventory from scratch.

Track inventory for Tier II — free trial

Educational information only, not legal or compliance advice. EPCRA thresholds and the March 1 deadline are federal. New York directs Tier II filing to the New York State Emergency Response Commission (NYSERC) through DHSES and strongly encourages submission via E-Plan; the exact process and any state fee can change. Confirm current details at dhses.ny.gov/tier-ii-reporting and with EPA's EPCRA resources at epa.gov/epcra, and consult a qualified professional before you file.