NIST's Recommendations Following the Federal
Building and Fire Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster

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Recommendations - Next Steps

Information on NIST's Recommendations List of Recommendations and Implementation Status ICC Code Change Proposal List Status of NIBS Effort: Translating Recommendations into Model Building Codes Crosswalk of Recommendations to Categories Standards Affected by the Recommendations Model Codes Affected by the Recommendations Organizations Affected by the Recommendations

After issuance of the final report, the National Construction Safety Team Act requires NIST to:

• Conduct, or enable or encourage the conducting of, appropriate research recommended by the Team;
• Promote (consistent with existing procedures for the establishment of building standards, codes, and practices) the appropriate adoption by the Federal Government, and encourage the appropriate adoption by other agencies and organizations, of the recommendations of the Team with respect to—
  • Technical aspects of evacuation and emergency response procedures;
  • Specific improvements to building standards, codes, and practices; and
  • Other actions needed to help present future building failures.

NIST is assigning top priority to work vigorously with the building and fire safety communities to assure that there is a complete understanding of the recommendations and to provide needed technical assistance in getting them implemented. NIST has identified specific codes, standards, and practices affected by each of the recommendations (Tables 9-2a, 9-2b, and 9-2c in report NIST NCSTAR 1) and already begun to reach out to the responsible organizations to pave the way for a timely, expedited consideration of the recommendations. Toward this end, NIST held a conference September 13–15, 2005, that was attended by over 200 people, including all of the major standards and codes development organizations.

In addition, NIST will implement a web-based system so that the public can track progress on implementing the recommendations. This web site will list each of the recommendations, the specific organization or organizations (e.g., standards and code developers, professional groups, state and local authorities) responsible for its implementation, the status of its implementation by organization, and the plans or work in progress to implement the recommendations.

NIST has awarded a contract to the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) to convene a panel of building code experts, representing the diverse technical areas covered by the WTC recommendations, to carry out the following tasks:

1. Develop a strategy for implementing relevant recommendations into model building codes.
2. Develop awareness of activities of other groups already focusing on implementing the recommendations (e.g., NFPA, ICC, ASCE 7, ASTM, AISC, ACI, AIA, and BOMA).
3. Develop initial proposals for change to the model codes.
4. Shepherd proposed changes through the code-change processes.
5. Identify additional steps to be taken with respect to relevant standards.
6. Identify any needed training and educational tools.

The building code experts represent a broad spectrum of specific organizations (e.g., NFPA, ICC, ASCE, BOMA, and U.S. Accessibility Board) and areas of expertise (e.g., architecture, engineering, risk assessment, law enforcement, social science/egress, and insurance) that can address all of the recommendations. This core expertise will be augmented with the participation of other experts representing organizations and technical areas required to address one or more specific recommendations.

The timeline for this effort is governed by the established development cycle for the model codes. For example, the model codes follow a three-year development cycle with the next edition due in 2009. The IBC also will issue a supplement in 2007 based on code change proposals submitted by March 2006. Working in partnership with NIBS, NIST will target the IBC’s 2007 supplement as well as the 2009 editions of the model codes.

The NIST WTC recommendations impact about 37 specific national standards, codes, and practice guidelines or regulations. In carrying out this work, NIST recognizes that not all of the recommendations will have an impact on model building codes. Many will impact standards that are referenced in model codes. Others will impact stand alone standards used in practice but not referenced in model codes. A few will impact practices, including education and training, that don't have any impact on codes and standards.

 

 

Last updated:  11/7/2006

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