An update on Senate Bill 1953
Recently passed statewide
legislation provides relief for hospitals working to meet Senate Bill 1953 seismic
performance regulations. SB 1953, passed in 1994, mandates that all acute care hospitals
in California become compliant with the seismic safety provisions of the California
Hospital Code (Title-24) by the year 2030. An interim provision requires that by 2008
hospitals shall meet minimum life safety standards for the structure and shall seismically
brace all nonstructural equipment and mechanical/electrical/plumbing components in
critical care areas (operating theaters, radiology, physical plants, etc.)
Senate Bill 1801 permits hospitals an extension of the 2008 provisions for up to
five years, if they can show that compliance with the provisions would result in
“diminished in-patient capacity.” For example, if a rural hospital that is the
sole service provider for a small community determines that it would need to eliminate 50%
of its bed capacity during a seismic retrofit, it may apply for an extension to reduce the
impact of the retrofit on the community it serves.
Senate Bill 2006 permits hospitals in regions of moderate or low seismicity to
receive an exemption from the year 2008 nonstructural bracing requirements. This law
recognizes that the seismic risks faced by hospitals in the central and northern portions
of the state are much lower than for hospitals nearer the coast.
Both of these legislative changes offer valuable relief to eligible hospitals and
may have a dramatic and positive impact on future strategic and construction planning.
Specifics of the SB 2006 legislation
The exemption from the 2008
nonstructural bracing requirement (known as Nonstructural Performance Category 3 or NPC 3)
requires that a hospital meet four eligibility requirements:
1. The
hospital must be in Seismic Zone 3
2. The
hospital must comply with year 2002 nonstructural bracing requirements (known as NPC 2)
3. The
hospital must show, through a geologic hazards study that expected design earthquake
ground motions are below a specified threshold
4. The
geologic study must be reviewed for accuracy by the Office of Statewide Health Planning
and Development (OSHPD) and the California Geologic Survey.
If a hospital meets these requirements, it is eligible for the NPC 3 exemption.
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The map above shows hospitals currently in the OSHPD SB1953 database. In
blue are regions likely to be within the exempted ground motion area. Hospitals in these
areas, upon certification of NPC 2 compliance and approval of an appropriate geologic
hazards report, will likely be eligible for an NPC 3 exemption.
What is the value of an NPC 3
exemption?
Compliance with NPC3
requires that critical care nonstructural components and equipment be braced in accordance
with the current hospital code.
While the cost to implement these requirements is highly dependent on many
variables, estimates range from $1 to $15 per square foot averaged out over the entire
acute care building area. Exempting hospitals
in regions of low seismicity, therefore, has the potential to defer millions of dollars in
retrofit and remodeling costs.
An exemption to the NPC3 requirements also allows hospitals more flexibility in
long range strategic planning. The issue of compliance no longer has to be a looming
burden whose complexity often becomes the driver in planning decisions.
The cost of obtaining supporting documentation required to request an NPC 3
exemption is relatively insignificant – less than 1% of the typical cost of NPC 3
compliance in almost all cases. This assumes that a hospital seeking an exemption meets
the NPC2 nonstructural bracing regulations. All hospitals were required to be NPC 2
compliant by January 01, 2002.
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Consider the hospital above. Nearly 40% of the
main hospital ara falls under NPC3 compliance regulations. |
How CDComartin, INC is assisting hospitals with SB 1953 compliance.
CDComartin, INC specializes in integrating seismic risk management strategies into
existing finance, risk management, and facilities programs.
We apply state-of-the-art technical and financial processes to the planning
and design aspects of construction to facilitate project implementation.
We specialize in assisting project managers with successful implementation of
complex design and construction projects, by:
