California Office of Statewide Health Planning & Development

Office Plan Review Process

The office plan review process starts with triage. Each submittal, upon receipt, is required to be logged in and reviewed within 48 hours by OSHPD Architects, Electrical, Mechanical, & Structural engineers, and the Fire & Life Safety officer, to determine if the submittal is complete. If a discipline can perform the review within about 15 minutes they may review it during the triage process, otherwise they will estimate the time for review and mark the triage form accordingly.

The office criteria are as follows:

T = Take in	Review will take longer than 2 hours. See 60/30/30 for turn around times.
E = Expedite	Review can be done within 1 to 2 hours *
O = Over the Counter	Review can be done in 1 hour or less. (2hrs for structural) **
R = Return	Submittal is incomplete and should be returned
X = Not Applicable
*All discipline's requiring review of the documents must mark either O or E for the project to be expedited. Only first reviews will be expedited. S projects will be reduced to 30 days, and H projects will be reduced to 40 days.
**All discipline's requiring review of the documents must mark O for the project to be scheduled for an OTC.

Once triage is complete the plans are logged in and given a review completion date based on the 60/30/30 process below:

60/30/30 Program

The 60/30/30 Program for the Plan Review process is to review and return projects to clients using the following guidelines:

• New G & S projects and Deferred Approvals within 60 days,
• G & S backchecks within 30 days, and
• G, H, I & S post approval documents within 30 days.

Note: For new H & I projects and new H & I deferred approvals, the turn-around times are 80 days, and backchecks are 40 days, Larger projects may vary.

If it is anticipated that FDD cannot meet any of the above goals for a project, it is the Office policy to notify applicants when they can expect their project to be returned. This program began July 1, 1998.

The project type is determined by the first letter of the OSHPD plan review number which starts with either a G, S, I, or an H. The second letter of the project number indicates which office is reviewing the project. (i.e., "GS, SS, IS or HS" projects are generated and reviewed by the Sacramento Office. "GL, SL, IL or HL" projects are generated and reviewed by the Los Angeles Office.)

• 'G' projects are typically very small projects that are submitted under an annual permit.
• 'S' projects are typically small and do not contain major structural work.
• 'H' projects are for "hospital buildings" as defined in section 129725 of the Health and Safety Code, and contain major structural work.
• 'I' projects are projects using the incremental construction process for a single building as outlined in Title 24 Part 1 Section 7-131. They are typically the largest construction projects. Please contact the Regional Supervisor for additional information on 'I' projects.

Once the review is completed there are a number of possible Results of Review (ROR).

If defects are found, ALL PREVIOUS DOCUMENTS ALONG WITH A COMPLETE RESPONSE TO EACH COMMENT must be re-submitted for back check. Approval will be given when all comments are resolved AND the office has an approved record set for our files.

OSHPD Over-The-Counter (OTC) Reviews

Office criteria for OTC's is 1 hour per discipline ( 2 hours for structural). If after triage all disciplines have marked O for OTC the designer may schedule an OTC at the earliest available time.

In addition to the typical office OTC's, each region also offers certain days that OTCs may be scheduled for reviews with shorter duration of time. Please contact regional supervisors for information regarding time, location, and criteria. Check results of triage in Project Status.

Alternate Method of Compliance

Often times the letter of the code or standard way of meeting the code is not an option without creating a hardship to the owner. There are three types of requests that will be reviewed by The Office.

1. Request for Alternate Method of Compliance - Projects that require an alternative way of meeting the intent of the Title 24 Building Code.
2. Request for Program Flexibility - Projects that require an alternative way of meeting the intent of the Title 24 Building Code where the issues are typically functional issues found also in Title 22, which is enforced by Licensing and Certification, and require their approval.
3. Request for Alternate Method of Protection - Projects that require an alternate way of meeting the intent of the Code for a Fire and Life Safety issue. These require the local fire jurisdictions approval.

These can all be submitted on our standard Alternate Method of Compliance Form. See activity code 230 in Project Status.

Construction Observation Process

The FDD construction observation process entails the following: Upon plan approval, a building permit is issued and construction begins. The facility owner hires a FDD-certified Building Inspector, who throughout the construction phase, reports to FDD field personnel and the owners on the progress of the construction. He/she notifies FDD of discrepancies between approved plans/specifications and work in progress, and assures their resolution by the hospital design team, with FDD approval. In addition, FDD field personnel make periodic visits to the construction site to assure that the seismic, fire and life safety, and other requirements of the building code are being met. The OSHPD/FDD Regional Compliance Officer supervises the field staff who include District Structural Engineers, Fire and Life Safety Officers, and Area Compliance Officers. The Area Compliance Officer typically is the person to contact initially to resolve field issues as they can coordinate as required with other field staff. Once construction is completed, FDD issues a certificate of occupancy which allows the owner to then apply to the Department of Health Services for a license to operate the health facility.

Geotechnical Reports

Geotechnical/geo-hazards reports should be submitted as required below ahead of the scheduled submittal of construction documents for plan review. This will ensure that the review is based on approved site data. In most cases the reports with geo-hazards information is forwarded to The California Geological Survey for review. Complete report review times could be up to 12 months before approval. Check 330 activity codes for reports in Project Status.

Title 24 Part 1, Section 7-117. Site Data.

1. The site data reports shall be required for all proposed construction except:
1. As provided in the Part 2, Title 24.
2. One-story, wood-frame or light steel frame buildings of Type V construction and 4,000 square feet or less in floor area.
3. Nonstructural alterations.
4. Structural repairs for other than earthquake damage.
5. Incidental structural additions or alterations.
2. Three copies of site data reports shall be furnished to the Office for review and evaluation prior to the submittal of the project documents for final plan review. Site data reports shall comply with the requirements of these regulations and Part 2, Title 24. Upon the determination that the investigation of the site and the reporting of the findings was adequate for the design of the project, the Office will issue a letter stating the site data reports are acceptable.