Adventist Health/Rideout on track to meet seismic standards

Michaela Harris, Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, Calif.
·2 min read

Jan. 27—Nearly 30 years after passing a law fortifying California's existing earthquake safety standards, some hospitals across the state still have not updated their older buildings to these new standards.

Based on information from the Department of Health Care Access and Information, Adventist Health/Rideout Hospital in Marysville currently has two buildings on its campus that may not remain fully functional following an earthquake.

Hospitals with buildings that do not comply with these safety standards are required to upgrade or replace existing facilities or cease their operations, CalMatters recently reported. When first enacted in 1994, hospitals across the state were given until 2008 to ensure that all facilities on their campus were built up to the new seismic standards.

Specifically, these buildings must be able to remain standing after an earthquake. The deadline to meet this requirement was later pushed back to 2020, CalMatters reported. While most hospitals have met this deadline, there are still 23 facilities in California that have at least one building that does not meet the updated seismic standards.

These organizations were given an extension — until 2025 for some — to make the necessary changes to meet this requirement. A second deadline for 2030 has also been established, which requires hospitals in California to ensure that their buildings are also fully operational in the event of an earthquake.

Currently, about 62% of hospitals have at least one building that has yet to meet the 2030 structural standards, CalMatters reported.

According to the Department of Health Care Access and Information, a central plant and the north wing N-2 building of Adventist Health/Rideout Hospital in Marysville earned a score of 2 for structural performance and 2 for nonstructural performance.

Structural Performance Category (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. Nonstructural Performance assesses the degree of anchorage and bracing for nonstructural building elements such as hospital equipment.

The scores given to the two buildings in question suggest that they are unlikely to "significantly jeopardize life," but may not remain fully functional in the event of an earthquake, the department said. Available data for other applicable buildings shows that they earned SPC scores of 4 and above.

"California's hospitals are working to comply with the nation's strictest hospital building requirements — ensuring that every hospital building providing critical acute care in the state remains functional after an earthquake," Adventist Health officials said. "Currently, all of our patient buildings are compliant to a Structural Performance Category (SPC) of at least 2, which means they are safe after a major seismic event but may not be fully functional. At Rideout, we currently comply with the timeline requirements established by the state of California to reach 2030 compliance."