Audit: State fails to keep tabs on toxic items

Friday, Oct. 12, 2001 | 10:10 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Hazardous materials could be stored at 20,000 Nevada businesses, but state officials don't have any idea where most of them are, a legislative audit said.

In addition, some businesses use such materials for years without getting the required permit from the state fire marshal's office.

That leaves the state without important information, increasing the danger to the public and emergency personnel, the audit, which was presented to the Legislative Audit Committee Thursday, found.

"Then we do not know what's out there in hazardous materials," Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, noted.

"That's correct," Acting State Fire Marshal Byron Slobe replied.

The permits provide information about the type and quantity of hazardous materials stored at businesses.

Solvents, photo chemicals and fuel are hazardous materials commonly found at some businesses.

Emergency workers responding to fires or hazardous materials accidents use the information in determining what techniques to use in fighting the fires.

"Without this data, the risk of danger to emergency personnel and the public is increased," the auditors said.

The audit staff selected a sample of 30 permit holders and found that 18 conducted business for at least four years before they obtained a permit. Seven of them had operated without a permit since 1989, the year the state hazardous material permit program began.

"The division recently estimated the number of businesses in Nevada that should hold a hazardous material permit could exceed 20,000," the audit said. "However, as of Dec. 31, 2000, less than 4,600 businesses held permits."

A 1994 audit found the same problem, Deputy Legislative Auditor Mike Noel said, adding, "Little progress has been made."

Slobe, who is retiring today, said the agency does not have the staff to track them all. Twelve deputies monitor the estimated 20,000 businesses, in addition to their other duties, such as fire investigation and training.

"We're stretched pretty thin," he said. Businesses that use hazardous material can "crop up overnight" in rural Nevada, and even the county or the city where they are located won't know about them, he said.

Companies also are slow to renew their permits yearly, the audit found. Many of the permits were due to be renewed on March 1, 2000, but auditors found 5 percent of the businesses had not responded by August last year.

The fire marshal's office was also criticized for not implementing the National Fire Incident Reporting System, which has been required by state law since 1979.

"As a result, the state has missed opportunities to use NFIRS information in helping prevent fire incidents and improve public safety," the audit said. The issue was raised in a 1994 legislative audit, but the agency has failed to fully implement the recommendations.

Assemblyman Joe Dini, D-Yerington, the chairman of the committee, said the office has "always been underfunded."

The fire marshal's office should work with the state Department of Taxation to find out where businesses that use hazardous materials are located, Dini said. And the office should put the regulations on the Internet.