Asks Support for Earthquake-Focused Positions

The National Institute of Building Sciences Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC), developer of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) publication NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions for New Buildings and Other Structures for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), urges governmental members of the International Code Council (ICC) to support code changes that advance seismic safety in the nation’s buildings.

As part of their role in supporting the NEHRP Program, members of the FEMA-funded BSSC Code Resource Support Committee (CRSC) provided input at both the Committee Action Hearings, held April 17-27, 2016, in Louisville, Kentucky, and the ICC Public Comment Hearings, held October 19-25, 2016, in Kansas City, Missouri. The Online Governmental Consensus Vote (OGCV) ballot, which begins Tuesday, November 8, and runs through Monday, November 21, is the final action to determine if proposed code changes will become part of the 2018 International Codes. The CRSC is asking ICC members to support its positions on critical seismic-related code change proposals in the 2018 editions of the International Building Code (IBC), the International Existing Building Code (IEBC) and the International Residential Code (IRC).

The CRSC also requests building industry professionals who know ICC Governmental members to ask them to support the CRSC positions during the OGCV ballot.

The CRSC is a collaboration of industry experts, including architects, engineers, building officials, federal agency representatives and others with expertise in seismic engineering, that serves to implement the knowledge developed through the NEHRP Provisions. The recommendations in the NEHRP Provisions are incorporated into the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) / Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) standard, ASCE/SEI 7 Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures. CRSC supports the alignment of the Provisions within ASCE/SEI 7 and the building code for the safety of the nation’s communities.