- Author
-
Todd, D. R.
- Title
- World of Building Codes.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Journal
-
Phenomenal News,
Vol. 3,
No. 3,
1-3,
April 1992
- Keywords
-
building codes
|
disasters
|
seismographs
|
building construction
|
standards
|
seismic design
- Abstract
- Executive Order 12699 requires that federal agencies use appropriate seismic design and construction standards for the construction of all new buildings that are owned, leased, assisted, or regulated by the federal government. The order requires that "nationally recognized private-sector standards and practices" be used, unless such standards are found to be inadequate for agency use. Local building codes may be used if they are found to be adequate. The Interagency Committee on Seismic Safety in Construction (ICSSC), in its Recommended Practice 2.1, "Guidelines and Procedures for Implementation of the Executive Order on Seismic Safety of New Construction," recommends the use of building codes that are substantially equivalent to the "National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP) Recommended Provisions for the Development of Seismic Regulations for New Buildings." The NEHRP Recommended Provisions themselves are not a building code, but rather a resource document. This article describes how local codes, model codes, national standards, and seismic-design resource documents are related. Figure 1 shows the flow of information among researchers and investigators, resource documents, national standards, and model and local codes.