Saratoga Municipal Code Art. 8-35 Inspections and Records

The County may conduct inspections, at its discretion, for the purpose of ascertaining compliance with this Chapter and causing to be corrected any conditions which would constitute any violation of this Chapter or of any other statute, code, rule or regulation affecting the storage of hazardous materials.

Permittees are not required to disclose the identity of hazardous materials protected as trade secrets pursuant to Section 8-25.040 to anyone other than the official designated for that purpose pursuant to Section 8-25.040(c)(3), except in the case of an emergency response or an unauthorized discharge related to the storage facility in which the trade secret material is contained. Therefore, the permittee may put temporary coverings over the labels of trade secret materials during the course of County inspections conducted by other than the County official so designated.

(a) Right of entry. Whenever necessary for the purpose of investigating or enforcing the provisions of this Chapter, or whenever any enforcement officer has reasonable cause to believe that there exists in any structure or upon any premises, any condition which constitutes a violation of this Chapter, said officers may enter such structure or premises at all reasonable times to inspect the same, or to perform any duty imposed upon any of said respective officers by law; provided that if such structure or premises be occupied, the officer shall first present proper credentials and request entry, and further provided, that if such structure or premises is unoccupied, the officer shall first make a reasonable attempt to contact a responsible person from such firm or corporation and request entry, except in emergency circumstances. If such entry is refused, the officer seeking entry shall have recourse to every remedy provided by law to secure entry.

(b) Inspections by County—discretionary. All inspections specified herein shall be at the discretion of the County and nothing in this Chapter shall be construed as requiring the County to conduct any such inspection nor shall any actual inspection made imply a duty to conduct any other inspection. Furthermore, nothing in this Chapter shall be construed to hold either the County or the City, or any officer, employee or representative of either the County or the City responsible for any damage to persons or property by reason of making an inadequate or negligent inspection or by reason of any failure to make an inspection or reinspection.

The permittee shall conduct regular inspections of its own facilities to assure compliance with this Chapter and shall maintain logs or file reports in accordance with its Hazardous Materials Management Plan. The inspector conducting such inspection shall be qualified to conduct such inspections.

In addition to the inspections specified above, the County may require the periodic employment of special inspectors to conduct an audit or assessment of the permittee's facility, to make a hazardous material safety evaluation and to determine compliance with the provisions of this Chapter.

(a) The special inspector shall be a qualified person or firm who shall demonstrate expertise to the satisfaction of the County.

(b) The special inspection report shall include an evaluation of the facilities and recommendations consistent with the provisions of this Chapter where appropriate. A copy of the report shall be filed with the County at the same time that it is submitted to the permittee.

(c) The permittee shall, within thirty days of said report, file with the County a plan to implement all recommendations, or shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the County why such recommendations should not be implemented.

An inspection by an employee of any other public agency may be deemed by the County as a substitute for any requirement above.

All records required by this Chapter shall be maintained by the permittee for a period of not less than three years. Said records shall be made available to the County during normal working hours and upon reasonable notice.