Rebuilding Project
Senate Bill 1953
White Memorial Medical Center's building and seismic upgrading project — The New White Memorial: Building A Healthier Community — is required by Senate Bill 1953, a state law passed after the Northridge earthquake.
What is SB-1953?
California State Senate Bill 1953 (SB-1953) is an amendment to the 1973 Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act (HFSSA), which was passed following the 1972 Sylmar earthquake. SB-1953 came into existence as a result of the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
SB-1953 requires that all 450 acute care hospitals in California evaluate and report on both the structural and nonstructural safety of each of its hospital buildings. Hospitals were given until December 31, 2000, to file their evaluation reports with the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD).
In addition, SB-1953 requires all hospitals to retrofit, rebuild or close their general acute care inpatient hospital buildings by specific dates if they do not meet strict new seismic safety standards.
By January 2002, all hospitals must file a plan that tells how they will upgrade their buildings. White Memorial Medical Center already has its plan in place — The New White Memorial project.
The goal of SB-1953 is that, by December 31, 2007, every general acute care inpatient hospital building in the state will remain standing following a major earthquake. By 2030, every building must not only remain standing, but must be operational following a major earthquake.
Why did the State of California pass SB-1953?
Although no one died in a hospital as a result of the Northridge earthquake, the tremor caused 23 hospitals to suspend some or all of their services and resulted in more than three billion dollars in hospital-related damages.
The 1973 Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act required seismic upgrades only when new buildings were constructed or existing buildings underwent major renovations. SB-1953 goes much further, requiring hospitals to ensure that all buildings — existing and new — are seismically sound.
Is White Memorial Medical Center currently safe in the event of an earthquake?
Like all acute care hospital in California, White Memorial was constructed according to a building code that is far stricter than for any other commercial structure. Consequently, our hospital should withstand all but the most major earthquake.
The purpose of SB-1953 is to keep hospitals standing and operational in a major earthquake. What will happen at White Memorial if such an earthquake occurs before retrofitting and replacement take place?
No one can truly predict this — it depends on the location of the epicenter and numerous other factors. However, it is much more likely that we would experience a moderate earthquake, rather than a major one. A moderate earthquake is more likely to cause failure of nonstructural elements, such as pipes, electricity, and telecommunications equipment than structural building collapse.
At White Memorial, these nonstructural elements — most notable backup electrical generators — already meet SB-1953's strict requirements.
