Based on the findings of the most detailed examination of a building failure ever conducted, NIST is making 30 recommendations.
The recommendations, contained within 43 draft reports (totaling some 10,000 pages), were released this week for a six-week public comment period. The recommendations cover:
• specific improvements to building standards, codes and practices;
• changes to, or the establishment of, evacuation and emergency response procedures; and
• research and other appropriate actions needed to help prevent future building failures.
The recommendations (see the NIST WTC Web site at http://wtc.nist.gov for the complete list) are divided into eight groups:
• Increased Structural Integrity: The standards for estimating the load effects of potential hazards (e.g., progressive collapse, wind) and the design of structural systems to mitigate the effects of those hazards should be improved to enhance structural integrity.
• Enhanced Fire Resistance of Structures: The procedures and practices used to ensure the fire resistance of structures should be enhanced by improving the technical basis for construction classifications and fire resistance ratings; improving the technical basis for standard fire resistance testing methods; using the "structural frame" approach to fire resistance ratings; and developing in-service performance requirements and conformance criteria for spray-applied fire resistive materials (SFRMs, commonly referred to as "fireproofing" or "insulation").
• New Methods for Fire Resistance Design of Structures: The procedures and practices used in the design of structures for fire resistance should be enhanced by requiring an objective that uncontrolled fires result in burnout without local or global collapse. Performance-based methods are an alternative to prescriptive design methods. This effort should include: (1) the development and evaluation of new fire resistive coating materials and technologies, and (2) the evaluation of the fire performance of conventional and high-performance structural materials (such as fire-resistant steels and concretes). Technical and standards barriers to the introduction of new materials and technologies should be eliminated.
• Active Fire Protection: Active fire protection systems (i.e., sprinklers, standpipes/hoses, fire alarms and smoke management systems) should be enhanced through improvements to design, performance, reliability and redundancy of such systems.
• Improved Building Evacuation: The process of evacuating a building should be improved to include system designs that facilitate safe and rapid egress; methods for ensuring clear and timely emergency communications to occupants; better occupant preparedness for evacuation during emergencies; and incorporation of appropriate egress technologies.
• Improved Emergency Response: Technologies and procedures for emergency response should be improved to enable better access to buildings, response operations, emergency communications, and command and control in large-scale emergencies.
• Improved Procedures and Practices: The procedures and practices used in the design, construction, maintenance, and operation of buildings should be improved to include encouraging code compliance by nongovernmental and quasi-governmental entities; adoption and application of egress and sprinkler requirements in codes for existing buildings; and retention and availability of building documents over the life of a building.
• Education and Training: The professional skills of building and fire safety professionals should be upgraded through a national education and training effort for fire protection engineers, structural engineers and architects.
NIST strongly urges that immediate and serious consideration be given to these recommendations by the building and fire safety communities˜especially designers, owners, developers, codes and standards development organizations, regulators, fire safety professionals, and emergency responders. NIST also strongly urges building owners and public officials to (1) evaluate the safety implications of these recommendations to their existing inventory of buildings; and (2) take the steps necessary to mitigate any unwarranted risks without waiting for changes to occur in codes, standards and practices. NIST further urges state and local agencies to rigorously enforce building codes and standards since such enforcement is critical to ensure the expected level of safety.
For more information, go to www.nist.gov.
