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February 19, 2004

An independent consulting firm will report on how General Chemical in Richmond is addressing 54 safety issues at their facility.

Marine Research Specialist Environment Company (MRS) will provide the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors and the Richmond City Council with a report on safety findings from a follow-up evaluation of General Chemical-Richmond Works facility. The report to the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to be given at 10:30 a.m. on February 24, at the County Administration Building, 651 Pine Street, Room 107, Martinez. The Richmond City Council presentation will take place after 7 p.m. the same day at the Council Chambers, 2600 Barrett Avenue in Richmond. (The follow-up safety evaluation report can be seen online at http://www.cchealth.org.)

"The follow-up safety evaluation found that General Chemical has made improvements to a number of their safety management systems and has developed processes to ensure the systems were being implemented," said Randy Sawyer, Contra Costa Health Services Hazardous Materials Accidental Release Prevention Programs Supervisor.

Following an incident at General Chemical in 2001, MRS conducted a safety evaluation in 2002 where 54 safety findings were identified. MRS recently completed a follow-up evaluation to see how well the facility addressed the original issues.

"The follow-up evaluation was not meant to be a compliance audit, but rather a review of the actions General Chemical has taken," said Sawyer.

He said public participation was a key element of the follow-up evaluation and a thirty-day public comment period was held from December 15 to January 14.

"Contra Costa Health Service tried to make sure that community concerns were addressed. We responded to all written comments in writing," said Sawyer.

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