SR-700-004 (5)
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Council Meeting: September 23, 1986
Santa Monica, California
To:
Mayor and city Council
From:
city Staff
Subject:
Recommendation to Prepare an Ordinance for
Hazardous Materials Incident Planning Regulations
INTRODUCTION
This report recommends that city council direct the city Attorney
to prepare an ordinance adding Chapter 6.95 of the State Health
and Safety Code to the Santa Monica Municipal Code, commencing
with section 25500, relating to the development of emergency
plans and training programs by businesses handling reportable
quantities of hazardous materials.
BACKGROUND
On July 23, 1986 final amendments were made to Assembly Bill 2185
and 2187 (copies attached) requiring all businesses handling
hazardous materials to establish a plan for emergency response to
hazardous materials incidents.
statutes AB2185 and AB2l87 were
enacted in response to the chemical disaster in Bhopal, India.
Because of the urgent nature of the situation, strict deadlines
were
established
for
statewide
implementation:
i. e. ,
implementation
by
september
I,
1986.
However,
because
established deadlines are unrealistic, no local or county
agencies anticipate immediate compliance. County officials have
indicated that Santa Monica's proposed adoptive date of January
27, 1987 demonstrates satisfactory progress to be in compliance
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with the law. Los Angeles County, specifically the Los Angeles
County Fire Department, is the agency designated in the bill to
administer this program within the County, and therefore has the
administrative authority to grant this extension.
Each county is required to implement the provisions of the law
but cities may assume responsibility for program implementation
if all required agencies are notified in advance. The state
Office of Emergency Services and the County Fire Marshal were
both notified of the city of Santa Monica's intent to implement
provisions of this new law as required. City Staff recommended
this action because County officials indicated that they did not
have resources to satisfactorily implement this program within
the stated dates. In addition, Santa Monica has accumulated much
of the necessary data through the Toxic Substance Disclosure
Program to implement this program. The Department of General
Services was designated by the city Manager's Office as the
responsible department within Santa Monica for program
implementation. City Staff believes that a better program will
result if the city takes on this program, which is a logical
extension of Toxic Chemical Disclosure Program, rather than
leaving the responsibility with the County which must provide
these services to many other cities as well as its own area.
This law requires that any business handling over 55 gallons of
hazardous materials per month prepare a Business Plan, consisting
of: product and waste inventories; plans and procedures for
emergency response, notifications, mitigation and evacuation; and
the outline of a training program which must be provided to all
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employees on the use of the emergency plan and in handling
hazardous materials. The Business Plan must be submitted to the
administering agency by December 30th, 1986. Specific provisions
are made for the collection of fees to cover costs incurred by
the agency to implement this program.
Each implementing agency must also prepare an Area Plan for
City-wide response to hazardous materials incidents. specific
components of the Area Plan include: emergency rescue personnel
procedures, pre-emergency planning, notification, and personnel
training. This area plan is very similar to the hazardous
materials response plan recently developed by the City'S Police
Department. Proposed Area Plans must be submitted to the state
Office of Emergency Services by December 30, 1986 for approval.
Staffing Requirements
Lead responsibility for the administration of this program will
lie with the Department of General Services. Overall
implementation of the program will be a coordinated effort
between the General Services, Fire and Police Departments.
The General Services Department will be responsible for overall
implementation of the program requirements of statutes AB 2185
and AB 2187 including ordinance amendments, establishment of a
fee structure, form development, information dissemination,
training, plan review and coordination with other departments.
The Fire Department will be responsible for annual business
inspections to verify the adequacy of emergency response plans
and training programs and the accuracy of chemical inventories.
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Violations in reporting requirements will be mitigated by the
Department of General Services. Training of Fire Department
personnel on responsibilities of this new program is scheduled to
begin in October and extend through January, 1987.
The Police Department will be responsible for the development of
the Area Plan required by 2185 and 2187 and the training of
employees in the use of the plan.
Economic Impact of Requlations on Businesses
This law provides for agencies to recover all costs incurred in
program implementation. A new fee structure must be established
based on projected program operating costs for the three
departments involved. The new fee structure will replace the
existing $5.00 annual fee charged for the Toxic Chemical
Disclosure Program. Figures from the Toxic Chemical database
indicate that approximately 625 entities in Santa Monica will be
effected by this program including businesses, utilities, schools
and City Departments.
The financial impact on most businesses should be minimal.
Because of the existence of the Toxic Chemical Disclosure
Program, all businesses have already prepared chemical
inventories and need only develop emergency plans and training
programs for their employees.
Many of the larger businesses in Santa Monica have already
developed programs in response to similar requirements set forth
in Title 22 of the California Administrative Code. These
requirements are currently enforced by the County Health
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Department, Hazardous Waste section. Therefore, businesses who
are in compliance with Title 22 requirements are in compliance
with the new State law and should not be financially burdened.
Smaller businesses, however, would be effected by the
requirements of this law. In order to minimize the costs, and in
an effort to work cooperatively with Santa Monica businesses,
Staff proposes to offer workshops to give guidance in the
development of effective emergency response and training programs
appropriate for business needs. As a result of this assistance
from the city, it should not be very costly for businesses to
prepare the plans. The major impact will be the staff time
required of the businesses to prepare the plans.
BUDGET AND FINANCIAL IMPACT
Current staffing in the General Services Department is
insufficient to carry out the implementation of this State
mandated program. Staff estimates that an additional 1000 hours
would be required for effective initial implementation of this
program beyond the 250 hours required of Staff time currently
available. staff recommends that a professional consultant be
hired to provide the additional support required.
The responsibilities of the consultant would be to coordinate the
development and adoption of a fee structure, serve as a pUblic
contact, plan and conduct workshops for small businesses, develop
various forms, information packages and related documents,
develop a training program for Fire Inspectors and establish data
management procedures.
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Funds were not budgeted for this proj ect during the FY86-B7
budget process because the scope of the requirements of the
legislation were not available for staff review until July, 19B6.
Staff estimates that the cost for the consultant will be $20,000
($20.00 per hour for 1000 hours).
RECOMMENDATIONS
staff recommends that the city Council:
1. Direct the city Attorney to prepare an ordinance to adopt
Chapter 6.95 of the state Health and Safety Code for final
adoption by the January 27, 1987 city Council meeting.
2. Appropriate $7000 from the Wastewater Fund (General Service
share) to account number 31-500-66l-000-506 and $l3,000 from
the General Fund (Police and Fire share) to account number
01-500-401-000-506 to establish funding for the consultant.
3. Direct staff to develop a fee structure to recover the costs
of implementing of this program.
Prepared by: S. E. Scholl, Director of General Services
E. H. Lash, utilities Manager
J. J. stone, Toxic chemical Coordinator
Attachments: Reprint of AB 2185
Reprint of AB 2187
(ab2185z)
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