Panel Seeks More Seismic Training for Builders : Earthquakes: Architects, engineers, contractors and code enforcement officials are targeted for increased education. Shoddy practices in those fields are blamed for much of the damage in the Northridge temblor.

Blaming shoddy design, construction and inspection for much of the damage in the Northridge earthquake, the California Seismic Safety Commission has called for new laws requiring additional training for architects, engineers, contractors and code enforcement officials.

Meeting this week, the commission tentatively agreed on the education requirements and several other recommendations. But it postponed final action on an already overdue report that Gov. Pete Wilson requested on the adequacy of current seismic construction standards.

The commission stressed the need to retrofit schools and other public buildings to reduce the hazard from such non-structural elements as toppling light fixtures. But commissioners wrestled with how to safeguard lives and property in the face of the state’s dire fiscal condition.

“The voters are not interested in big-ticket items,” said Frances E. Winslow, a commissioner and director of emergency services for the city of San Jose. “We have to ask ourselves what we can do administratively or without involving a lot of expenditures.”

After three hours of debate Thursday, the commission shot down a potentially costly proposal to establish a new state agency or designate a so-called “quake czar” who would have been responsible for managing several seismic risk-reduction programs now divided among several existing agencies. The new department also would have been responsible for promulgating seismic safety training and building standards.

Developers and local building officials contended that the agency would have been a waste of money.

“The voters made a statement about how they felt about big government Tuesday,” testified Robert E. Raymer, technical director for the California Building Industry Assn. “This item alone could hurt the credibility of your entire document.”

Some commissioners argued that the new department could save the state money by consolidating fragmented programs. But others warned that even if it were cost-effective, it would be solidly opposed by the turf-hungry state agencies that currently regulate seismic safety, including the Division of the State Architect and the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. Legislation to consolidate the various programs has failed to win passage in the past, partly because the state agencies opposed it.

The commission lacks the authority to enforce new rules it recommends, but is often considered persuasive on issues of seismic safety. It will meet again Dec. 8, and it is likely that the final report will not be completed until shortly before the first anniversary of the Jan. 17 quake.

The commission has tentatively concluded that the building code is largely adequate to protect lives, but found compliance lacking. Many of the 11,787 buildings heavily damaged in the Northridge earthquake showed evidence of shoddy construction, design or inspection, said Fred Turner, the commission’s structural engineer.

“We would not have had a lot of the damage we had . . . if we had just taken what we had today and used it properly,” said Paul F. Fratessa, commission chairman.

The commission has recommended that building departments hire architects or engineers to review sophisticated blueprints, that code enforcement officials and others receive additional training and that updated seismic safety principles be included in contractors’ licensing exams.

The panel also tentatively agreed to adopt a recommendation that would require the owners of the state’s 1,300 dams and large river levies to update their inundation maps by Jan. 1, 1996. The dams appear to be structurally sound, the commission said, but local jurisdictions need the maps to evaluate future development and prepare evacuation strategies in the event of a cataclysmic earthquake.

The commission plans to ask the Legislature to allocate state and federal money for a seismic hazards mapping program that could also help cities plan development.

A draft report urged that automatic gas shut-off valves be required at the service entry point of all mobile home parks in California. Gas-fed fires from broken lines destroyed 184 mobile homes as a result of the Northridge earthquake, according to the commission. Some Los Angeles City Council members have proposed that the valves be required in all residences.

A spokeswoman for Southern California Gas Co., which has 4.7 million customers in the Southland, said the firm opposes mandates because the valves often shut down unnecessarily, leaving consumers without service and requiring the firm to make costly home visits to turn the gas back on. The company is seeking permission from the Public Utilities Commission to test a shut-off valve in the San Fernando Valley, Orange County and the Inland Empire that can be turned back on by the customer, the spokeswoman said.

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