Agenda

Return

D.6

To:	Board of Supervisors
From:	William Walker, M.D., Health Services Director
Date:	August 16, 2016

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

Hazardous Materials Incident Notification Policy

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 08/16/2016

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Mary N. Piepho, District III Supervisor
Karen Mitchoff, District IV Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor

Contact:	Randy Sawyer, 925-335-3210
cc:	Tasha Scott M Wilhelm Randy Sawyer

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: August 16, 2016
David Twa,

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

ACCEPT the final Chevron Richmond Refinery third-party safety evaluation.

FISCAL IMPACT:

No expect fiscal impact.

BACKGROUND:

After the August 6, 2012 Chevron Richmond Fire where approximately 15,000 people sought medical attention, it was decided that a third-party safety evaluation under the Richmond Industrial Safety Ordinance be performed. An oversight committee was established that consisted of representatives from the Richmond community, United Steel Workers, the Building Trades, the City of Richmond and the County Hazardous Materials Programs. The Oversight Committee worked with County staff in developing the Scope of Work, a Request for Proposal, and selecting a third-party consultant, Process Improvement Institute (PII), to perform the safety evaluation.

BACKGROUND: (CONT'D)

The scope of work included performing a safety culture assessment, assessing Chevron’s Human Factors Program, and evaluating the refinery’s management systems. PII was at the refinery over three weeks during the months of September through November 2013. PII reviewed the refinery’s documentation, performed interviews, and did field inspections and verifications. PII also worked with Towers Watson on performing a Safety Culture survey that was done in November and December 2013.

PII completed the draft report on November 20, 2015 after extensive review and verifying that the information was factual. The Hazardous Materials staff presented the report to the Oversight Committee for comment, opened a 45-day public comment opportunity, and held a public meeting on February 10, 2016 to discuss the report. One comment was received from the Chevron Richmond Refinery.

The report includes 37 recommendations for Chevron to improve the refinery’s process safety. There were two years between when PII performed its onsite evaluation of the refinery and issuing the final draft of the report. Since that onsite evaluation, Chevron has made multiple changes and in many cases has addressed the concerns raised in the report. Because of the time lapse from the onsite evaluation and this draft, some of the actions that Chevron has already taken or are planning to take to address the findings may not be the same as what PII is recommending. Contra Costa Health Services staff has reviewed the actions that Chevron has taken or is taking to determine if these actions address the findings and the concerns raised in the report, and when the action is different than what PII recommends that action provides equal or better protection than the recommendation from the report.

Contra Costa Health Services staff has worked with Chevron staff on developing an action plan to address the findings of the report. Contra Costa Health Services staff is reviewing the actions that have been completed and will continue to following up at Chevron until all actions as laid out in the action plan are complete.

CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:

The report will not be accepted by the Board.

CLERK'S ADDENDUM

Speaker: Walt Gill, resident of Richmond.