At
a press briefing in New York City today, the Commerce Department’s
National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST) detailed its plans to collect first-person
data to study occupant behavior and evacuation, and emergency
response as part of the federal building and fire safety investigation
of the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster following the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The data collection will be done
with up to 575 face-to-face interviews, 800 phone interviews
and 15 focus groups.
“This
is an ambitious undertaking and will
need the active participation of WTC survivors, first responders
to the disaster and family members who were in contact with
WTC victims in order to be successful,” said Shyam
Sunder, lead investigator for NIST.
NIST
will be contacting survivors and first responders directly
to ask them to share their experiences. Survivors, retired
first responders and family members who communicated with
victims after the aircraft impacts also are being asked to
contact NIST toll-free at (877) 221-7828 to learn if and how
they can volunteer to participate. The personal privacy and
confidentiality of individual respondents will be protected
to the maximum extent permitted by law.
The two
NIST field data collection projects, one focused on occupant
evacuation (.pdf) and the other on emergency
response (.pdf), are different from—but
complement and are being coordinated with—other studies
also collecting and analyzing first-person accounts. They
are designed to provide the information and materials critical
to improving practices, standards and codes for evacuation
and emergency response in extreme events. This will help NIST
reach the overall goal of its WTC investigation: improvements
in the way people design, construct, maintain and use buildings,
especially high-rise buildings.
Among
the areas for which the interview data could facilitate improvements
are:
- occupant
behavior and evacuation technologies and practices for tall
buildings;
- decision-making
and situation awareness (for both evacuees and first-responders);
- the
design of egress systems;
- the
role of floor wardens and fire safety directors;
- the
evacuation of people with disabilities;
- firefighting
technologies and practices for tall buildings;
- command,
control and communication systems for emergency response;
and
- the
content, timing and quality of emergency communications
(among occupants and authorities, within and outside buildings,
and for intra- and inter-group communications).
Under
the National
Construction Safety Team Act (NCST), signed into law in
October 2002, NIST 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.
A comprehensive
Web site on the NIST WTC investigation is at http://wtc.nist.gov.
As a
non-regulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s
Technology Administration, NIST develops and promotes measurement,
standards and technology to enhance productivity, facilitate
trade and improve the quality of life. For more information
on NIST, visit www.nist.gov.
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