Santa Barbara County Stations Bill Brown Sheriff - Coroner Headquarters Buellton*

Discharged air from the autopsy room ventilation system is not monitored, resulting in air-borne pathogens being discharged to the atmosphere. Response to Finding 3 The Sheriff-Coroner disagrees wholly with this finding.

The bodies are placed in the refrigeration room in body bags and stored on racks. Response to Finding 4 The Sheriff-Coroner agrees with the finding.

An industrial scale is located outside the Sheriff-Coroner's building. Response to Finding 5 The Sheriff-Coroner agrees with the finding. <b>Recommendation 5</b> That the Santa Barbara County Sheriff-Coroner install a body scale within the Sheriff-Coroner's building to determine accurate weight, without consideration of the weight of the body bag or the gurney. Response to Recommendation 5 This recommendation will not be implemented. The current industrial scale located outside of the Coroner's Facility allows for accurate weight measurements and is efficient. Installing a new industrial scale inside the facility would be costly, and not change the method in which the scale is used.

There is no stainless-steel dissecting table with wash down equipment in the autopsy room. Response to Finding 6 The Sheriff-Coroner disagrees partially with the finding. The Coroner's Office utilizes a plastic dissecting table rather than stainless steel. There is wash-down equipment in the autopsy room in the form of a sprayer with long hose in which the table can be cleaned and rinsed.

The residue from autopsies drains into a sink, which is discharged into the public sewer system. Response to Finding 7 The Sheriff-Coroner agrees with the finding.

All instruments are manually cleaned with soap and water. This is a safety hazard and cross- contamination between autopsies cannot be avoided. Response to Finding 8 The Sheriff-Coroner disagrees partially with the finding. All instruments are manually cleaned with soap and water. Handling sharp cutting instruments does involve some risk. Risk of cross- contamination between autopsies in not a concern as we are not conducting surgical procedures on living persons and diseases cannot be spread from one decedent to another.