Feb 01 2011
The Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC) convened a workshop earlier this month to gain federal agency input on seismic safety standards for existing federal buildings.
A BSSC expert committee held the meeting for representatives of the Interagency Committee on Seismic Safety in Construction (ICSSC) January 13 at the National Institute of Building Sciences offices. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has charged BSSC to draft an updated version of ICSSC RP 6, Standards of Seismic Safety for Existing Federally Owned and Leased Buildings.
Last updated in 2002, ICSSC RP 6 is intended to provide federal agencies with common minimum seismic evaluation and mitigation measures for all federal departments and agencies and to ensure that all federal entities have a balanced agency-conceived and -controlled seismic safety program for their existing owned and leased buildings. The workshop gave the federal agency representatives the opportunity to comment on already identified update issues and to contribute their thoughts on other aspects of standards to be considered as the BSSC prepares the updated version of the RP 6 document.
As part of the overall project, NIST tasked BSSC to analyze ICSSC RP 6 to determine where new technical information can be applied in the standards to improve technical accuracy. BSSC will also analyze federal agencies’ experiences implementing ICSSC RP 6 to determine where improvements can be made and where OMB Circular A-119 provisions should be applied. Finally, BSSC will prepare, in coordination with NIST, a revised edition of the Standards that will be proposed for adoption by the ICSSC agencies.
BSSC Chairman William Holmes of Rutherford and Chekene, San Francisco, is chairing the Project Technical Committee (PTC). Also serving on this BSSC committee of experts are David Bonowitz, SE, San Francisco; James Cagley, Cagley and Associates, Rockville, Maryland; and Chris Poland, Degenkolb Engineers, San Francisco.
