Health and Safety Assessment. All facilities: Facilities shall be sited so as not to create significant risks or cause adverse impacts to the health and safety of populations in surrounding public and private areas, as determined by a health and safety assessment. A health and safety assessment by a state licensed expert in the applicable field (or, if no state license is applicable, a preparer otherwise shown by academic training and experience to be a qualified expert to the satisfaction of the City) is required for a proposed facility prior to approval of a local permit, to provide technical and environmental evaluation of the proposed facility, site and surrounding area.
A health and safety assessment will provide the information and analysis needed to demonstrate compliance of the proposed facility with the siting criteria. The scope of the assessment will vary according to the size, type and proposed location of the facility. It is not intended that the health and safety assessment duplicate information developed for environmental impact reports or risk assessments required under local, state or federal regulations. When environmental impact reports and health risk assessments are required, their scope should provide the information and analysis required, and thereby suffice for the health and safety assessment.
The health and safety assessment shall evaluate, at minimum the area within 2,000 feet of the site, which is designated a sensitive area, and shall evaluate the potential impact on sensitive populations within that area and on immobile populations within one mile of the site. Sensitive populations include residential populations, employment populations, and immobile populations such as those in schools, hospitals, convalescent homes, jails and other similar facilities within the area of potential impact. The health and safety assessment must consider the quantities and the physical and chemical characteristics of the specific types of waste that would be handled, the facility design features and planned operational practices. The need and distance for any buffering of the facility from residential areas or other sensitive land uses will be identified. The assessment shall include a hydrologic evaluation, and shall assess risks due to physical hazards such as flooding and earthquakes and potential water or air pollution. The assessment shall detail credible potential accidents, including the distance over which effects would carry a variety of options for reducing risks, and procedures for dealing with the effects. The assessment will identify the capabilities (including equipment and trained personnel) and response times of existing emergency services with regard to accidents at the facility, and will provide an emergency evacuation plan. If existing emergency services are deemed inadequate, the local agency may require the developer to supplement those services with onsite trained personnel and equipment.
Avoidance or mitigation of potential significant health or safety risks must be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the local permitting agency and the California Department of Health Services.