Humboldt County HazMat Unit wins outstanding CUPA award at California conference

A county team most residents never see, except when a fuel leak, chemical spill or hazardous-waste problem threatens a business or neighborhood, brought home a statewide honor for the work that keeps those incidents from snowballing. Humboldt County Public Health’s Environmental Health Division HazMat Unit received the Outstanding CUPA award at California’s annual Unified Program conference, a recognition that puts a little-known local regulator at the center of public safety and business continuity.

The unit’s reach is wider than many people realize. Humboldt County’s Certified Unified Program Agency, or CUPA, is responsible for compliance inspections at more than 800 local facilities, including sites that store hazardous materials, generate hazardous waste or operate underground storage tanks. The county says the program uses education and enforcement to reduce the risk of chemical exposure to human health and the environment, and it passes important facility information to local fire prevention agencies so responders can act quickly if an emergency breaks out.

That work shows up in everyday business operations. County inspectors review hazmat storage areas, disposal records, emergency response plans and employee training records. Humboldt also requires hazardous-materials business plans before a new or modified business gets final certificate of occupancy and before hazardous materials are brought onto a property, a safeguard meant to keep projects from opening without a cleanup and spill-response plan already in place. Businesses must also immediately report releases or threatened releases that could pose a significant hazard.

The statewide framework behind the program is built for speed. CalEPA says Humboldt’s CUPA maintains a 24-hour on-call program to receive notification of hazardous-materials emergencies and provide response, and the state’s Unified Program is designed to keep local agencies applying standards consistently when they issue permits, conduct inspections and enforce rules. In Humboldt County, that means the HazMat Unit helps protect not just public health and the environment, but also the daily operations of fuel suppliers, manufacturers, shops and other employers that depend on clean, safe handling of oil, fuels, paints, solvents and other hazardous substances.