Department of Building Inspection

Note:

Public comment is welcome and will be heard during each agenda item.  Reference documents relating to agenda are available for review at the 1660 Mission Street, Suite 6002.  For information, please call Kirk Means at (415) 575-6832.

Present:
Jerry Cunningham, P.E.
Ira Dorter
Henry Karnilowicz

Others present
Alan Tokugawa, TSD/DBI, Secretary CAC
Spencer Gosch, TSD/DBI
Rosemary Bosque, Chief Housing Inspector, DBI
Jane Berthet, public member
Betty Anderson, public member
Cassandra Costello, Office of Sup. McGoldrick

Excused:
Jim Reed

Absent:


 

1.0

Call to Order and Roll Call
Members: Jim Reed, Chair; Jerry Cunningham; Ira Dorter; Henry Karnilowicz

The meeting was called to order at 2:40 p.m. and a quorum was established with 3 members present.

2.0

Approval of the minutes of the subcommittee meeting of September 8, 2008.

The minutes were approved as written.

3.0

Discussion and possible action regarding a proposed ordinance (Supervisor McGoldrick) amending the San Francisco Housing Code to add Section 605 prohibiting wooden fixed utility ladders in R-1, R-2, and R-3 Occupancies. The possible action will be to make a recommendation to the full Code Advisory Committee for their further action.

Alan Tokugawa reminded the committee that although there was a lot of information dealing with the unfortunate occasion of a fatal accident that the Subcommittee is to address only the proposed ordinance which deals with the ban of wood ladders and not the legal issues which pertain to the accident.

Jane Berthet explained the circumstances at the time her son Alex fell to his death from an old wood ladder that provided access to the roof from the uppermost deck.  A wood rung of the ladder was deteriorated and broke causing Alex to fall four stories. (Pictures of the ladder and its installation on the building were distributed for viewing.) Ms. Berthet asked how a ladder in such a condition would be allowed to exist on this building. No violations were issued at that time and the ladder was removed. Ms. Berthet and her sister Betty Anderson support Supervisor McGoldrick’s proposed legislation to ban ladders.

Betty Anderson continued the presentation and made the following points:

•          The Building Inspection Commission (Sept. 24, 2008) discussed this issue and brought up excellent topics for code amendments such as adequate enforcement. The current legislation does not address code enforcement or penalties for noncompliance and it was hoped that the Code Advisory Committee (CAC) would be able to deal with these concerns.

•          The timeliness of enforcement of this ordinance is critical. There is an urgency to implement this legislation as soon as possible to prevent further severe injuries and death, which is currently occurring once every 9 months (4 deaths and 17 injuries in the last 17 years). Whatever enforcement is being done now is not good enough.

•          The ban of wood ladders should not be enveloped into the existing routine [HIS] inspections every five years given that these inspections are behind 25%. This could mean that some ladders will not be inspected for 7–8 years with additional accidents in the meantime. This is not acceptable since we are aware there is a problem and something can be done in a timely manner.

•          It was suggested that an notification and self-certification affidavit process be implemented as a broad-stroke start to address the timeliness issue.

Jerry Cunningham added code compliance items including:

•          The unsafe ladder is an imminent hazard and the question is how to deal with it according to the code.

•          The ladder in this specific case is not a fire escape ladder as provided for in the building code. Under the current a roof access ladder is required in all buildings 4 or more stories in height and it may be that this ladder was installed in order to comply with this requirement. It is not meant to provide egress from the building at all. Whether this ladder was ever required would depend on the code under which it was installed or modified.

Henry Karnilowicz noted that extra care and caution should be used when going into dangerous places such as crawl spaces and old wood ladders not made for public use. Legislation to outright ban dangerous installations is not the answer. Installations should be made to comply with code.

Rosemary Bosque stated that the building code does not address ladders that do not access mechanical equipment or the roof.  The Housing Code addresses general dilapidation but not specifically ladders. The Housing Code does not consider the ladder to be part of a stairway structure or fire escape. These were installed as a convenience for the property owner and were nailed in. She said that Chief Building Inspector Laurence Kornfield felt that these ladders were not regulated under the Housing Code. The purpose of this legislation is to determine if such ladders can be used. For older buildings, such ladders may have been added after the original construction, and might or might not have been inspected. There are no records.

Alan Tokugawa guessed that most of these wood ladders were installed without permit.  Older codes required all buildings 4 or more stories in height to have roof access, and these access points were intended to be from the inside. The codes stated that if such access was from the outside, they were required to be made of metal and bolted into the structure, and maintained in this manner. The ladder in question would not have met any current requirements for ladders regarding spacing of rungs, distance from the wall, and bolting specifications. In order to obtain a permit to install a ladder, it would have to meet these requirements. OSHA would allow complying wood ladders if they are protected with a clear sealant (not paint) and maintained. The only time a ladder was specifically required to go to the roof was as an extension of a fire escape, and then there were specific requirements for that ladder. Metal ladders were also allowed as part of a means of egress in certain instances.

There was additional discussion around the requirements for access to the roof under the older codes and new codes.

It was noted that the BIC brought up several questions:

•          If ladders are required by OSHA or some other codes to access the roof, then what would be the code that would be used for the construction of the apparatus? Standards for ladders would have to be adopted for this ordinance.

•          There is concern that permits are taken out and the ladders are attached properly to the building.

•          How would you get a broad-based notification and affidavits out quickly to the public with the staffing that DBI has? What is the liability associated with the notification?

There was extensive discussion regarding the logistics of inspecting residential properties and the timely notification of property owners. Rosemary Bosque stated that If the intent is to get a mass mailing out to property owners with a self-certifying affidavit much like the wood deck provisions of Housing Code Section 603, and using existing DBI staff, then the ordinance should be pulled back and Section 603 rewritten to include the exterior wood ladder inspections. The current legislation does not speak to an immediate mass notification but proposes to envelope the inspections of ladders into the existing Housing Services inspection program.

There is going to be a notification of hotel owners in their regular mailings. There may be a possibility of putting a notice into the Water Department mailers if there is room to do so. Previously, it was determined that there would be no room in the City tax bill envelope, so other city agencies are being checked to see if any of them have regular mailings that might be used by DBI.

Currently, Housing Inspectors are doing informal checks for ladders during their regular inspection routine of R-1 and R-2 Occupancies and notifying the owners of the danger, but without the legislation, DBI does not have the specific language to force owners to remove them. There is no routine inspection of R-3 Occupancies. The specific violations are not being tracked as yet.

Anything that is placed into the Housing Code has a variety of enforcement tools: citations cane be issued, the owner can be sent to the Franchise Tax Board (FTB), and even litigate.

[This wood ladder topic was continued into the next meeting with no break in continuity. See the minutes for the Fire & Life Safety meeting of Oct. 6, 2008]

4.0

Introduction and discussion regarding the Housing Inspection Services action plan for proposed updates, clarifications, and amendments to the new 2007 San Francisco Housing Code (SFHC).

This item was not reviewed due to time constraints.

5.0

Subcommittee Members’ and Staff’s identification of new agenda items, as well as current agenda items to be continued to another subcommittee regular meeting or special meeting. Subcommittee discussion and possible action regarding administrative issues related to building codes.

There was no public comment.

6.0

Public Comment: Public comment will be heard on items not on this agenda but within the jurisdiction of the Code Advisory Committee.  Comment time is limited to 3 minutes per person or at the call of the Chair.

There was no public comment.

7.0

Adjournment.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:40 p.m.