Building Regulatory Systems in a Post-September 11 World.
Building Regulatory Systems in a Post-September 11
World.
(82 K)
Bukowski, R. W.
Fire Safety Engineering International Conference 2004.
Issues and Solutions. FSE2004. Proceedings. March
22-24, 2004, Sydney, Australia, 1-11 pp, 2004.
Keywords:
fire safety; safety engineering; regulations;
terrorists; terrorism; World Trade Center; uncertainity;
risk management; fire protection; building collapse;
egress
Abstract:
The September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States have
initiated a significant discussion and rethinking among
building regulators not only in the U.S., but also
around the world. While most quickly state that
regulations should not require that buildings be
designed to resist impact by fully loaded aircraft,
there is an active dialog on what have come to be called
extreme events. Much of the discussion in the literature
has focused on technical issues like structural fire
resistance and progressive collapse, but there is a
public policy debate that should precede and drive the
engineering and design discussions. The purpose of this
paper is to lay out some of these issues, such as
expected response to extreme events; "target" buildings;
standards of practice, qualifications, and ethics;
regulation of existing buildings; management of risk;
and others, and to hopefully start that policy debate.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899