PUBLIC SAFETY/Sacramento builds state-of-the-art crime lab/office

As environmental, workplace safety and health regulations multiply, some cash-strapped municipalities have been forced to comply with them on a piecemeal basis. Often, too much money has already been invested in an existing facility to justify tearing it down and starting over.

That is not the situation in Sacramento County, Calif. Committed to staying in front of the curve with emerging technologies and aware of what it takes to satisfy EPA and OSHA, the county has spent $16 million on a new crime lab/coroner’s office.

All told, including land, designing and architectural fees, the project cost $26.7 million.

The 82,000-square-foot building, completed last summer, is self-contained and environmentally sensitive, says Paul Scott of the department of county engineering. A key design element is a vastly upgraded HVAC system that improves ventilation, conserves energy and provides a more comfortable environment for the 50 employees who work in the facility.

Sacramento County officials had been working in a cramped 35,000-square-foot building. But as the county has continued to grow, so has the potential for crime. With the increasing reliance on forensic evidence by courts, county officials foresaw a growing laboratory caseload and the need for cutting-edge technology. Officials also recognized the need to comply with a maze of health and safety laws affecting overall operations.

The county brought in general contractor J.R. Roberts Corp., Citrus Heights, Calif., which in turn passed the mechanical contracting duties on to F.W. Spencer and Sons, Brisbane, Calif. Fabrication of the HVAC system was subcontracted to Brisbane Sheet Metal.

Sacramento County also hired an environmental management research specialist who “gave advice on what can be exhausted into the air, what can be put in the drains, what must be neutralized and what kind of plumbing system we will need now and in the future,” Scott says.

According to Sacramento County Coroner William Brown, the old morgue was in such bad shape that “if OSHA had ever come into it, they could’ve shut us down.”

New lab equipment in the autopsy area has a specialized filtering system built into its design to handle airborne contaminants.

“We now have airborne diseases that either were not present or which we weren’t aware of 20 years ago,” notes Brown, listing antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis and Hepatitis A, B and C as prime examples.

In the crime lab area where drug samples of unknown origin are brought for analysis, workers installed specialized fume hoods that exhaust, recycle, filter and reheat air partially or completely. The first floor of the new facility houses the Department of the Coroner, as well as the autopsy area and morgue. The second floor is the home of the Laboratory of Forensic Services. A ballistics testing facility is located below grade.

In addition to addressing the needs of scientists and law enforcement officials, the building’s designers sought to achieve long-term energy efficiency. Newly installed, high-efficiency motors, fans, pumps, lighting and electronic ballasts are projected to cut energy consumption by 25 percent, says Principal Administrative Analyst Linda Foster-Hall.

The contractors installed CertainTeed Ultralite fiberglass as HVAC duct liner insulation in 13,000 square feet of the duct system, because of its low thermal conductivity and acoustical insulation properties.

It is installed in ducts serving the variable air volume system. The fume hood exhaust and general exhaust are integrated into the system.