HCAI’s Seismic Compliance Unit provided detailed guidance on seismic separations and the technical limits on utilities, egress and fire systems when a hospital building is converted to OSHPD 1R or upgraded to SPC 4D.

The webinar explained the difference between an architectural building and an SPC building: an SPC building is defined by an independent lateral and vertical load‑resisting system, whereas an architectural building is bounded by exterior walls and firewalls and may contain multiple SPC buildings. HCAI stressed that freestanding status—required for transfer of jurisdiction to local authorities—means structural and fire separation meeting California Administrative Code criteria within the same lot and appropriate height/area limits.

Technical rules emphasized in the webinar include:
- Seismic separations must be verified around the building; HCAI maintains public site plans that show seam lines where separations exist and owners should confirm those annotations.
- Utilities (power, fire mains, life safety systems) cannot originate in a building removed from general acute care and feed compliant acute‑care buildings; isolation devices and tamper switches must be installed on the compliant‑building side where sprinkler systems cross seismic joints.
- The main fire alarm control panel must be located in an acute‑care hospital building, not in an OSHPD 1R building.
- Patient access and primary entrances cannot be routed through an OSHPD 1R building; egress paths must comply with applicable code dimensions and cannot rely on removed acute‑care buildings.

HCAI presented adjacency checks and examples showing when gap size per story, floor alignment and relative building heights permit exceptions to collapse‑prevention gap checks, and when a full collapse‑prevention evaluation is required. Presenters recommended that designers verify separations at multiple points around a building (gaps at each story) because separations can vary across elevations.

Ending: HCAI advised owners to consult the department’s online site plans, discuss ambiguous cases with regional staff and submit proposed separation clarifications early to avoid protracted review during construction drawing submittal.