Louisiana Administrative Code › Title 51 - PUBLIC HEALTH-SANITARY CODE › Part I - General Provisions › Chapter 1 - General › Section I-113 - Suspension/Revocation/Civil Fines or Penalties [formerly paragraph 1:007-21]

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024
A. Pursuant to
				the provisions of
				R.S.
				40:4,
				R.S.
				40:5 and
				R.S.
				40:6, the state health officer acting through
				the Office of Public Health, for violation(s) of a compliance order may:
1. suspend or revoke an existing license or
				permit;
2. seek injunctive relief
				as provided for in
				R.S.
				40:4 and in 40:6; and/or
3. impose a civil fine:
a. these civil fines shall not exceed $10,000
				per violator per calendar year applicable to each specific establishment,
				facility, or property that the violator owns, manages, operates or leases. The
				schedule of civil fines by class of violations shall be as follows.
i. Class A. Violations that create a
				condition or occurrence, which may result in death or serious harm to the
				public. These violations include, but are not limited to the following:
				cooking, holding or storing potentially hazardous food at improper
				temperatures; failure to follow schedule process in low acid canned foods or
				acidified food production; poor personal hygienic practices; failure to
				sanitize or sterilize equipment, utensils or returnable, multi-use containers;
				no water; unapproved water source; cross contamination of water; inadequate
				disinfection of water before bottling; sewage back up; sewage discharge on to
				the ground; sewage contamination of drinking water; failure to comply with
				human drug current good manufacturing practices (CGMP); inadequate labeling of
				foods or drugs regarding life threatening ingredients or information; failure
				to provide consumer advisories; failure to comply with any applicable
				requirement of
				R.S.
				40:5.5.4; non-compliant UV lamps or
				termination control switch on tanning equipment; the inadequate handling and
				disposal of potentially infectious biomedical wastes; or failure to obtain food
				safety certification in accordance with
				§305 of Part XXIII. Class A civil fines
				shall be $100 per day per violation.
ii. class B. Violations related to permitting, submitting of
				plans, or training requirements. These violations include, but are not limited
				to: failure to submit plans or to obtain or hold: a permit to operate; a
				commercial body art certification; tanning equipment operator training; day
				care training; a license to install, maintain, or pump out sewage systems; etc.
				Class B civil fines shall be $75 per day per violation;
iii. class C. Violations that create a
				condition or occurrence, which creates a potential for harm by indirectly
				threatening the health and/or safety of the public or creates a nuisance to the
				public. These violations include, but are not limited to, failure to: properly
				label food; properly protect food; properly store clean equipment; provide
				self-closing restroom doors; provide adequate lighting; provide hair
				restraints; provide soap and towels at hand-washing lavatories; clean floors,
				walls, ceilings and non-food contact surfaces; properly dispose of garbage;
				maintain onsite sewage systems; provide electrical power to onsite sewage
				systems; etc. Class C civil fines shall be $50 per day per violation;
iv. class D. Violations related to
				administrative, ministerial, and other reporting requirements that do not
				directly threaten the health or safety of the public. These violations include,
				but are not limited to, failure to: retain oyster tags; provide hazard analysis
				critical control plans (HACCP); maintain HACCP records; provide consumer
				information; provide written recall procedures; maintain lot tracking records;
				turn in onsite sewage system maintenance records or certification of
				installation; register product labels; etc. Class D civil fines shall be $25
				per day per violation;
b. the duration of noncompliance with a
				provision of the compliance order shall be determined as follows:
i. an investigation shall be conducted by
				staff for the purpose of determining compliance/noncompliance within five
				working days after the deadline date(s) specified in the compliance order. If
				non-compliance still exists, staff will provide a copy of the post-order
				investigation report to the person in charge and daily penalty assessments
				shall begin to accrue immediately from the date that non-compliance was
				determined in the post-order investigation report;
ii. the daily penalties shall accrue until
				such time as the agency has been notified in writing by the person in charge
				that compliance has been achieved and such compliance verified by agency staff,
				or upon reaching the maximum penalty cap of $10,000 per violator per calendar
				year. Upon written notification by the person in charge of compliance, an
				investigation to verify compliance shall be made within five working days of
				receipt of such notification;
iii.
				upon verification by investigation that compliance has been achieved, the
				penalties will cease to accrue on the date of receipt of notification by the
				person in charge;
c. the
				secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals, upon the recommendation of
				the state health officer, may exercise his discretion and mitigate these civil
				fines or in lieu of a civil fine, require the violator or an employee designee
				to attend training seminars in the area of the violator's operations in cases
				where he is satisfied the violator has abated the violation and demonstrated a
				sincere intent to prevent future violations;
d. at the discretion of the state health officer, notice(s)
				imposing penalty assessments may be issued subsequent to either initial or
				continued noncompliance with any provision of the compliance order. Notice(s)
				imposing penalty assessments shall be served by United States Postal Service,
				via certified mail-return receipt requested, registered mail-return receipt
				requested, or express mail-return receipt requested, or hand delivered. Within
				the notice imposing penalty assessment, the state health officer will inform
				the person in charge of the ability to apply for mitigation of penalties
				imposed and of the opportunity to petition for administrative appeal within 20
				days after said notice is served, according to the provisions of
				R.S.
				49:992 of the Administrative Procedure
				Act;
e. once a penalty assessment
				is imposed, it shall become due and payable 20 calendar days after receipt of
				notice imposing the penalty unless a written application for mitigation is
				received by the state health officer within 20 calendar days after said notice
				is served or a petition for administrative appeal relative to contesting the
				imposition of the penalty assessment is filed with the Division of
				Administrative Law, P.O. Box 44033, Baton Rouge, LA 70804-4033 within 20
				calendar days after said notice is served;
f. the department may institute all necessary civil action to
				collect fines imposed;
g. this
				Section shall not be construed to limit in any way the state health officer's
				authority to issue emergency orders pursuant to the authority granted in
				R.S.
				40:4 and
				§115 of this Part;
h. the provisions of Paragraph 3 and
				Subparagraph a shall not apply to floating camps, including but not limited to
				houseboats which are classified as vessels by the United States Coast Guard in
				accordance with
				R.S.
				40:6 as amended by Act 516 of the 2001
				Regular Legislative Session;
4. may (in cases involving pollution of streams, rivers, lakes,
				bayous, or ditches which are located in public rights of way outside Lake
				Pontchartrain, Toledo Bend Reservoir or the Sabine River, their drainage basins
				or associated waterways):
a. suspend or
				revoke the existing license or permit; and/or
b. issue a civil compliance order and impose
				a fine of $100 per day up to a maximum of $10,000 in cases where establishments
				operate without a license or permit or continue to operate after revocation or
				suspension of their license or permit;
5. may (in cases involving pollution of Lake
				Pontchartrain, Toledo Bend Reservoir, the Sabine River, their drainage basins,
				or associated waterways and pursuant to the provisions of
				R.S.
				40:1152 and
				40:1153):
a. issue a civil compliance order and/or
				suspend or revoke the existing license or permit; and/or
b. impose a fine of $100 per day up to a
				maximum of $10,000 in cases where establishments operate without a license or
				permit, or continue to operate after revocation or suspension of their license
				or permit.