AUDIT COMMITTEE SUMMARY
April 19, 2016
Audit of San Antonio Fire Department Hazardous Material Inspections
Report Issued December 9, 2015
Background
The San Antonio Fire Department (SAFD) Fire Prevention Division, which includes the Office of the Fire Marshal, is ultimately responsible for providing a fire-safe environment for the citizens of San Antonio which includes performing inspections of facilities that house hazardous materials.
Prior to March 2015, there were just two uniformed personnel partially dedicated to hazardous material inspections. In 2013, City Council approved an initiative for the addition of three full-time hazardous material inspectors and related vehicles and equipment to build an inspection program for all hazardous material facilities. In March 2015, the three new hazardous material inspectors satisfied their training requirements and were able to begin performing inspections. Consequently, the Hazardous Material Inspections program, at the new staffing level of five uniformed personnel, is just now ramping up operations to focus on public safety and inspections in addition to permit revenue collection.
Audit Objective
Determine if controls over SAFD’s hazardous material inspection program are adequate to ensure appropriate and timely inspections.
Audit Scope & Methodology
The audit scope was from October 2013 to June 2015. We reviewed SAFD policies and procedures, Hansen system reports and queries, and Information Bulletins published by the SAFD Fire Marshal’s Office. Furthermore, we interviewed Fire Department management and staff of other municipalities for comparative purposes.
We also compared the SAFD hazardous material permits from SAP (the City’s financial system of record) to two databases, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Tier II Chemical Reporting database and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s (TCEQ) Active Petroleum Storage Facilities database to identify facilities storing hazardous materials that the SAFD has not issued a permit.
Audit Conclusions
Controls were not adequate to ensure adequate and timely SAFD fire inspections of facilities housing hazardous materials. Of the City’s 2,380 active hazardous material permitted facilities, 1,788 (or about 75%) have not been inspected. The SAFD lacks an effective and efficient approach to identifying San Antonio facilities storing hazardous material that require inspection and a City permit. The SAFD does not have procedures for determining if hazardous material permit holders have been billed the appropriate fee. The Hansen system, the City’s system used for tracking permits and inspections, does not currently have the capability to store hazardous material permit holder information vital to SAFD inspectors and the City’s hazmat program. Finally, the SAFD waives late charges and does not pursue collection of past due amounts for hazardous material permits.
We recommend that the SAFD Fire Chief:
• Ensure that all existing and newly permitted facilities are inspected timely. Furthermore, all facilities should be inspected on a periodic basis (e.g. annually for all Tier II facilities) to determine compliance with City ordinances and fire standards. Finally, all permitted facilities listed in SAP should be reconciled with facilities tracked in the Hansen system.
• Develop effective and efficient procedures to identify non-permitted hazardous material facilities for inspection and permitting purposes.
• Create procedures for determining if hazardous material permit holders have been billed the appropriate fee.
• Continue working on enhancing the Hansen system so that hazardous material inspectors can get access to critical information in order to perform their duties efficiently and effectively.
• Pursue collection of past due invoices and bill for late fees assessed for nonpayment of hazardous material permits.
SAFD management concurred with our recommendations and developed a positive corrective action plan.