Lab. Code, § 6359.4

(a) The State Department of Public Health shall consider a report of silicosis related to occupational exposure to artificial stone as a serious illness and shall report that case to the division within three business days of receiving the report. The report shall include, if available, the name and contact information for the worker with silicosis and the name and address of their workplace or workplaces.

(b) If the division receives a report of silicosis related to artificial stone from the State Department of Public Health, the report shall constitute a complaint from a government agency representative charging a serious violation and shall subject the employer or place of employment to the requirements of subdivision (a) of Section 6309 for the division to initiate an investigation within three business days.

(c) The division shall notify the State Department of Public Health of any cases of silicosis related to artificial stone identified through enforcement activities within five business days of case identification. The notification shall include, if available, the name and contact information for the worker with silicosis and the name and address of their workplace or workplaces. The division shall also share results of silica exposure assessments performed as part of its enforcement activities and the names and addresses of fabrication shops where the assessments were conducted and associated silica sampling data, including information about the composition of the slabs that were being fabricated during sampling. Silica exposure assessment results shall be shared by the division with the State Department of Public Health within 30 days of receipt of the results by the division.

(d) Information shared pursuant to this section regarding individual cases of silicosis, including personal information contained in assessment results, is confidential, shall be exempt from disclosure pursuant to the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code), and shall be used by the receiving party only for surveillance, investigation, or case management. The State Department of Public Health may share confidential information with the appropriate local health officer only for the purposes of surveillance, investigation, or case management.

(e) The State Department of Public Health may share the deidentified confidential information to entities conducting scientific research, if the request for information is approved by the Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects (CPHS) for the California Health and Human Services Agency, the requesting entity provides documentation to the department that demonstrates, to the department’s satisfaction, that the entity has established the procedures and ability to maintain the confidentiality of the information, and the requesting entity has agreed, in writing, to maintain the confidentiality of the information.