Buildings, bridges,
and other man-made structures are not supposed to fail. But, sometimes
they do, and for different reasons: fire, earthquakes, high winds,
errors in design and construction, flaws in materials or workmanship,
and even terrorist attacks.
Under the National
Construction Safety Team Act (NCST), signed into law in October
2002, the National Institute of Standards and Technology is authorized
to investigate major building failures in the United States. The
NIST investigations will establish the likely technical causes of
the building failure and evaluate the technical aspects of emergency
response and evacuation procedures in the wake of such failures.
The goal is to recommend improvements to the way in which buildings
are designed, constructed, maintained and used.
Some major
investigations include the building and fire
safety investigation of the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center
fire and building collapses, and the investigation of the fire at The
Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I. on February 20, 2003. The NCST
Advisory Committee provides advice to NIST on its investigations.
(Note:
Some of the information presented here is in PDF format. To
read these files, you can download Adobe Acrobat Reader free.)
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Background
on the National Construction Safety Team Act |
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National Construction Safety Teams Publications |
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NCST
Advisory Committee |
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World
Trade Center Investigation |
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(For a printed copy of NIST-NCSTAR 1 the summary report for the WTC investigation, contact the National
Technical Information Service (NTIS) at http://www.ntis.gov or
800-553-6847. NTIS
order number: PB2006-100819)
- Implementation
of NIST recommendations (Status Chart)
- Final
Reports of the Federal Building and Fire Investigation
of the World Trade Center Disaster
- NIST
Urges Implementation of Recommendations from World Trade
Center Investigation
Final Towers Report Released Today at Congressional
Hearing (News Release, Oct. 26, 2005)
- Statement
of William Jeffrey, Director, National Institute of Standards
and Technology, Technology Administration, U.S. Department
of Commerce on The Building and Fire Safety Investigation
into the
World Trade Center Collapse before the Committee on Science
House of Representatives, Oct. 26, 2005 (pdf)
- October
24-25, 2005 Meeting of the NIBS/MMC Committee to Translate
the NIST World Trade Center Investigation Recommendations
Into Building Codes And Standards
- Presentations from Sept. 13-15, 2005,Technical Conference
on the Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation
of the World Trade Center (WTC)
- More
information on World Trade Center investigation on dedicated
web site: http://wtc.nist.gov/
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The
Station nightclub Fire Investigation |
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- Final
Report - June 29, 2005
- Draft
Report - March 3, 2005
- Visuals
- B-roll
of Fire Tests and Simulations (if this link doesn't work for you, go to File/open
in RealPlayer and type or paste the following url: http://realex.nist.gov:8080/ramgen/RI_Fire_Broll.rm)
- Historical
Documents and Information
- Presentation
on RI Nightclub Fire Investigation Progress Given at
Dec. 2-3, 2003 National Construction Safety Team Advisory
Committee Meeting (pdf)
- Commerce’s
NIST Asks Public for Information on Rhode Island Nightclub
Fire (News Release, Nov. 25, 2003)
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Remarks by James Hill, Acting Director, Building and Fire
Research Laboratory
Remarks (pdf) by William Grosshandler, Lead Investigator, Rhode
Island Nightclub fire
- Video (for text description see Grosshandler remarks) Requires RealPlayer--a free download.
- Presentation
on Rhode Island Investigation at Aug. 26-27, 2003, NCST
Advisory Committee Meeting
- Statement
on the Progress of NIST's Rhode Island Nightclub Fire
Investigation (July 17, 2003)
- NIST
launches investigation into Rhode
Island nightclub fire (News Release, Feb.
27, 2003)
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