HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 12131994 - IO.2 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS 1.0.-2
5.. _ Contra
\\\E....•., ...gyp
FROM: INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE
Costa
November 14 , 1994;! ' `-County
f\ ry
DATE: rr�le_V�
SUBJECT: REPORT ON THE STATUS OF THE COUNTY'S HAZARDOUS MATERIALS PROGRAMS
H
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&16ACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
r'
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1 . ACCEPT the attached report from the County Health Officer on
the status of programs administered by the Hazardous Materials
Division of the Health Services Department.
2 . REMOVE this "subject as a referral to the Internal Operations
Committee.
BACKGROUND:
+I
The Health Services Director has been asked to make quarterly
reports to the Internal Operations Committee for one year as a
follow-up to a critical Grand Jury Report on this subject from last
year' s Grand Jury' The last of these quarterly reports was made to
our Committee on May 9, 1994, at which time we asked that a further
report be made to" our Committee in six months .
The requested report is attached and outlines the status of each of
the programs administered by the Hazardous Materials Division of.
the Health Services Department. This report also indicated the
level of activityin each of these programs .
We believe that the issues raised by the Grand Jury have all now
been addressed and that there is no longer a need for our Committee
to continue to provide special oversight on this subject. We are,
therefore, recommending that the Board of Supervisors accept this
report and remove` this subject as a referral to our Committee.
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE:
RECOMMENDATION F OUN ADMI IST 'T RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE
APPROVE HE
SIGNATURES
ACTION OF BOARD ON 1 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER
Il
a
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
/ I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE
UNANIMOUS(ABSENT ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN
AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD
ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN.
ATTESTED DEC 13 1994
Contact: PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF
cc: See Page 2 SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
BY ' DEPUTY
n
11
I .O.-2
-2-
cc: County Administrator
Health Services Director
William B. Walker, M.D. , County Health Officer
Lew Pascalli, Deputy Environmental Health Director
Hazardous Materials Programs
Elinor Blake, Executive Assistant to the
Hazardous Materials Commission
2
L Contra Costa County
.Health Services Department
as
qS William B. Walker, M.D.
Medical Director and
°o•.- = -'c3` County Health Officer
srA-coax
To: Internal Operations Committee
From: William B'. Walker, M.D.
Health Officer
by: Lewis G. Pascalli, Jr.
Deputy Director, HazMat Division
Date: October 25, 1994
Subject: First Six Month Report on Hazardous Materials Division
This is the first of the bi-annual updates the I.O. Committee has requested on the activities
of the Hazardous Materials Programs. Our last report to you (a quarterly report) was on
May 4, 1994. Our staff are responsible for protecting the public health and safety from
accidents and exposures involving hazardous materials. We run six-programs to carry out
this mandate. This report summarizes the work of each of our programs from January 1,
1994 through September 30, 1994.
The Incident Response Team
The Incident Response Team consists of trained staff who are organized in three teams.
These teams take responsibility on a daily basis, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year to respond
to hazardous material events. Calls are received primarily by phone during regular working
hours, and by pager on evenings and weekends.
Calls to us generally fall into three types. One type is "notification". Our response is based
on the information provided, the history of the facility involved (if any) and the professional
opinion of our staff. Under the County's Notification Policy, industries are strongly
encouraged to let us know of even minor incidents. When we receive a report from industry
that an event is contained on site, is not impacting the public, and is under control or of
short duration,we document the notification. We use this documentation in reviewing Risk
Management Prevention Programs (see below) and in planning our inspections. (In some
cases we may do additional response as described below.)
The second type is a "complaint". Members of the public often call about an event which
occurred in the past, is no immediate threat to the health and safety of the community or
the environment, and is contained. We document the information and a staff member
assigned to that particular geographical district investigates the complaint. In addition to
20 Allen Street• Martinez,CA 94553•(510)370-5010 Office•(510)370-5098 FAX
A-428 (9/91)
events, reports of abandoned chemicals that do not present any immediate threat are in this
category. Our response time depends on the staff's evaluation of the reported hazard.
The third type includes calls for which the circumstances compel the staff members to go
to the scene of the event. They assess the situation and ensure that whatever actions are
necessary are taken to contain the event, carry out remedial action and, when appropriate,
notify the community and activate the Hazardous Materials Emergency Operating Center.
We refer to this as a full "incident response". Of the 152 incident responses in this period,
some involved particularly intensive staff work, such as the recent Unocal incident and a
mercury spill at an Antioch school where the substance also got into the community.
Hazardous Materials Incident Reports
January 1, 1994 - September 30, 1994
Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Complaints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Incident Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599
The Business Plan, Hazardous Waste Generator and Underground Tank Programs
Un icer Sections 25100 et seq. of the Health and Safety Code, we investigate businesses that
handle and store hazardous materials,generate hazardous waste, or have underground tanks
containing hazardous materials. We have set a goal of inspecting these facilities once every
two years (annually for,,businesses handling acutely hazardous materials). Businesses with
particular problems or complaints on file against them are subject to additional inspections.
Since late 1993 we have organized the inspections by these programs so that, in the majority
of cases, they are consolidated into one visit by one inspector. This change has lessened the
burden on business without sacrificing our technical assistance and enforcement mandates.
There are 2,061 business sites in our inspection program. Most come under all three
programs, though some come under only one. During the period of this report, our staff
inspected 976 sites.
Business Plan, Hazardous Waste Generator and Underground Tank Programs
Inspections for Tanua1y 1, 1994 - September 30, 1994
Business Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
Hazardous Waste Generators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
Underground Storage Tanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Total Program Inspections . . . . . . . . . 1272
Underground Tank Installation and Removal
Whenever a business removes or installs an underground storage tank, a permit has to be
given by our Department. At installation, an inspector observes the foundation and the
2
piping structure and validates the tests of the tank and piping connections. During removal
excavations, inspectors observe the condition of the tank and the soil beneath it to
determine if there were leaks. If a leak is suspected, soil tests are conducted and soil
remediated until tests show there is no impact to the waters of California.
January 1, 1994 - September 30, 1994
Number of excavations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Number of installations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Piping modifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
The Household Hazardous Waste Program
Our program offers collection events at various sites around the County so that households
can conveniently and safely remove hazardous materials from their immediate environment.
This program has ma with great success in the communities served. We have safely
removed thousands of gallons of hazardous materials which would otherwise have found
their way into the environment through improper disposal.
From January 1, 1994 through September 30, 1994, we conducted 9 collection events over
18 days. The total number of households served to date is 6,547 with an average
participation of 727 households per event. The figures would have been higher had there
not been a temporary funding shortfall, which has recently been restored.
In September, we sent to the cities a proposal for conducting programs throughout the
county. The response has been encouraging, and we hope to enter into contracts by the first
of the year. The funding mechanism will be a local decision in each case.
The Risk Management and Prevention Program (RMPP)
The RMPP program is responsible for working with industries that handle acutely hazardous
materials and for reviewing their formal plans to minimize the likelihood of accidents.
The RMPP process begins with a notice to a business that its RMPP is being "called in".
The firm has one year' to complete the process. There is then a press release, public
meetings, an onsite review, the issuing of a Notice of Findings, a facility update,
clarifications, and then acceptance of the plan, if warranted. The review and acceptance of
these plans is staff-intensive and can involve months of time.
We originally identified 138 sites as handling acutely hazardous materials. As a direct result
of the RMPP review process, a number of these sites have removed the materials or
significantly reduced the amount on hand. We now have 103 sites identified as having
acutely hazardous materials that are subject to the RMPP process.
To date, we have requested twenty nine RMPP's; of the 103 sites, we are addressing the
most serious first. Of these 29 we have accepted 4 plans and are in the process of reviewing
12 more.
3
Administrative Support Team
Our administrative staff maintains our program data base of site information, and are
responsible for organizing the review of files by other agencies, the public, and consultants.
To date we have had 120 such reviews. In addition, the team provides the customary
administrative support to all the programs that enables us to function efficiently and
professionally.
Training
New and modified regulations,constantly changing technologies and increasing requirements
to attend refresher courses for certification require our program staff to attend training
sessions. This is a major activity and involves significant costs and staff time. When
possible, we seek grants to minimize the expense.
Through September 30, 1994, staff members have attended 72 training sessions ranging from
4 hours on Tank Vehicle Safety to 160 hours of in-depth Hazardous Materials Incident
Responder Training at "the California Safety Training Institute.
4