Hospital Seismic Safety
Program Overview
Following a major earthquake, Californians will rely on their community hospitals to provide care to those who are injured, to continue care for those already in the hospital, and to respond to the emergent needs of new patients. Under existing seismic safety standards, all hospital buildings providing acute care services are required to be fully functional to provide care following an earthquake by January 1, 2030. However, as of 2022, most hospitals do not fully meet the 2030 seismic safety standard requirements. This leaves patients receiving care in seismically deficient hospitals at risk of needing to be immediately evacuated in the event of an earthquake. Additionally, buildings may not be available to treat the injured or patients experiencing medical issues unrelated to the natural disaster.
AB 1882 recognizes that cities, counties, and the state need to be aware of their community hospitals seismic safety compliance in order to adequately prepare their communities for an earthquake. Therefore, it is the intent of AB 1882 to ensure that the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI), Office of Emergency Services, relevant local government entities, and other interested parties are notified of the status of acute care hospitals’ compliance with seismic safety standards. AB 1882 accomplishes this by raising awareness of a hospital’s seismic safety compliance through public notices, hospital campus postings, the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) website, and annual status updates, until compliance is achieved.
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View the Structural Integrity and Equipment and Systems Critical to Patient Care dashboards below for more information.
The Structural Integrity dashboard provides more information about what this gauge means and a description of the Structural Performance Category (SPC) ratings.
All general acute care hospital buildings are assigned a Structural Performance Category (SPC) which measures the probable seismic performance of building structural systems. Building structural systems include beams, columns, shear walls, slabs, and foundations.
SPC ratings range from 1 to 5 with SPC 1 assigned to buildings that may be at risk of collapse during a strong earthquake and SPC 5 assigned to buildings reasonably capable of providing services to the public following a strong earthquake.
State law requires all SPC 1 buildings to be removed from providing general acute care services by January 1, 2020, unless an approved extension has been granted, and all SPC 2 buildings to be removed from providing general acute care services by January 1, 2030. A hospital facility meets the January 1, 2030 requirements if all the general acute care buildings on campus are SPC 3, 4, 4D, or 5 and NPC 5 (see NPC description).
The Equipment and Systems Critical to Patient Care dashboard provides more information about what this gauge means and a description of the Non-Structural Performance Category (NPC) ratings.
All general acute care hospital buildings are assigned a Non-Structural Performance Category (NPC) which measures the probable seismic performance of building contents, equipment, and systems critical to patient care. Non-structural contents, equipment and systems include cladding, partitions, ceilings, equipment, pipes, conduits, ducting, furnishings, contents, elevators, stairs, as well as water, sewage, medical gases, and other mechanical and electrical systems.
NPC ratings range from 1 to 5 with NPC 1 assigned to buildings where equipment and systems critical to patient care may be completely non-functional following a strong earthquake and NPC 5 is assigned to buildings where equipment and systems critical to patient care are reasonably capable of providing services to the public following a strong earthquake or other disaster.
The NPC requirements, unlike SPC requirements, are cumulative, so a building meeting NPC 5 would also meet NPC 1, 2, 3, and 4D or 4. A hospital facility meets the January 1, 2030 requirements if all the general acute care buildings on campus are SPC 3, 4, 4D, or 5 and NPC 5.
Contact Us
- Email: SeismicComplianceUnit@hcai.ca.gov
- Phone: 916-440-8300
- OSHPD Phone Directory (Searchable Directory)
- OSHPD Phone List (Printable PDF List)
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