Standards of Seismic Safety for Existing Federally Owned and Leased Buildings

Published

January 1, 2002

Author(s)

Stephen A. Cauffman, Hai S. Lew

Abstract

The seismic safety evaluation and mitigation standards, Standards for Seismic Safety for Existing Federally Owned and Leased Buildings, were developed for use by the Federal Government by the Interagency Committee on Seismic Safety in Construction (ICSSC) in conjunction with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and with the funding support of several ICSSC member agencies. The intent of this document is to provide Federal agencies with minimum and extended standards for the evaluation and mitigation of seismic hazards in their building inventories. This document responds to Executive Order 12941 Sec. 4, which directs the ICSSC to ...update the Standards at least every 5 years, and to ...update the Standards within 2 years of the publication of the First Edition of FEMA's guidelines for Seismic Rehabilitation of Buildings and Commentary. Life-Safety is defined as the minimum acceptable performance objective for Federal buildings. This document further provides for an extended level of perfomance, Immediate Occupancy, where required to meet agency mission. FEMA 310, Handbook for the Seismic Evaluation of Buildings - A Prestandard, and FEMA 356, Prestandard and Commentary for the Seismic Rehababilitation of Buildings, provide the basis for defining these performance objectives and evaluation criteria. Situations requiring an evaluation and if necessary, mitigation, are identified. The Standards and Commentary include: an identification of situations that trigger application of the Standrds, preliminary and detailed evaluation procedures, and mitigation requirements for the two performance objectives, Life-Safety and Immediate Occupancy.

Citation

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR) - 6762

Report Number

6762

NIST Pub Series

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

building technology, evaluation, Federal buildings, rehabilitation, safety, seismic

Citation

Cauffman, S. and Lew, H. (2002), Standards of Seismic Safety for Existing Federally Owned and Leased Buildings, NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=860394 (Accessed November 8, 2024)