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National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee (NCSTAC)

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Gaithersburg, Maryland 

June 30, 2020

Meeting Summary

Advisory Committee Members:

James Harris, Chair J. R. Harris & Company 

Reginald DesRoches, Vice Chair Rice University

Ross Corotis University of Colorado, Boulder

William Holmes Rutherford + Chekene 

Gary Klein Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. 

Kimberly Shoaf Utah School of Medicine

Jeannette Sutton University of Kentucky 

NIST Representatives

Howard Harary Director, Engineering Laboratory

Jason Averill Chief, Materials & Structural Systems Division 

Judith Mitrani-Reiser Associate Chief, Materials & Structural Systems Division

(listed in alphabetical order) 

Benjamin Davis Designated Federal Officer, NCSTAC 

Maria Dillard Acting Director, Disaster and Failure Studies 

Kenneth Harrison Operations Research Analyst, Community Resilience 

Group

Jennifer Helgeson Research Economist, Applied Economics Office

Kathryn “Jo” Johnson Research Social Scientist, Earthquake Engineering Group

Marc Levitan Research Engineer, Structures Group

Joseph Main Research Engineer, Structures Group

Long Phan Group Leader, Structures Group

Scott Weaver Director, National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program

DongHun Yeo Research Engineer, Structures Group
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I. Welcome and Opening Remarks

Mr. Benjamin Davis, serving as the Designated Federal Officer, called the meeting to order and 

introduced the NIST Director, Dr. Walter Copan. Dr. Copan emphasized how much NIST 

values the input from an Advisory Committee with such a diversity of backgrounds. He 

elaborated that the recommendations from this Committee make a real difference in how NIST 

prioritizes and approaches NCST investigations. He then recognized Committee Chair Dr. 

James Harris for his two terms of service to the NCST Advisory Committee and thanked him for 

his extraordinary leadership. 

II. Meeting Goals & Agenda

Dr. Harris reviewed the goals of the meeting:

- Review NIST’s response to the NCSTAC’s 2019 Report to Congress;

- Review progress on the implementation of NIST Joplin tornado investigation’s 

recommendations;

- Review the status of the NCST investigation of Hurricane Maria’s effects on Puerto Rico, 

and 

- Develop the Committee’s annual report to Congress. 

Dr. Harris turned the meeting over to Dr. Maria Dillard to review the agenda. Dr. Dillard also 

acknowledged Dr. Harris’s leadership and time served on the Committee. She gave an overview 

of the meeting agenda, which can be found here: https://www.nist.gov/topics/disaster-failurestudies/meeting-and-agenda-presentations

Dr. Dillard then presented a brief background of the NCST ACT, and NIST’s response to the 

NCST Advisory Committee’s 2019 Report to Congress. The presentation can be found here: 

https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2020/07/21/01_DILLARD_NCSTAC_June2020_R

esponse_to_Annual_Report_FINAL.pdf

III. Progress on Implementation of the Joplin Tornado Recommendations

Dr. Long Phan and Dr. Marc Levitan provided a summary of progress on the implementation of 

the recommendations from the NCST Investigation of the Joplin, Missouri Tornado. The 

presentation can be found here: 

https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2020/07/21/02_Phan_Levitan_NCSTAC_June2020

_Joplin_Recommendations_FINAL.pdf

Discussion

The Committee discussed several points regarding the Joplin recommendations and tornado 

hazard characterization, as well as the recommendations from the 2019 Letter to Congress.

The first question raised by the Committee was how the current COVID-19 pandemic might 

impact future recommendations about evacuating to storm shelters. NIST responded that a NIST 

engineer chairs the committee responsible for developing the forthcoming edition of the ICC 500 

Standard for Design and Construction of Storm Shelters. The 2020 version will include a new 

appendix on shelter operations. NIST provided materials and draft provisions to the committee 

that would require consideration of public health and safety for infectious disease to be included 

in the shelter operations plan.
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Another point raised by the Committee is related to the long process of implementing 

investigation recommendations. NIST is working to get the Joplin recommendations into ASCE7 and later plans to tackle the Residential Building Code. In order to streamline the 

implementation of recommendations, the Committee Chair suggested developing a strategy for 

NIST to provide technical support during the debates held by codes and standards bodies to 

ensure that the recommendations are included in building codes. NIST agreed that it takes a long 

time to make significant changes in engineering standards for buildings due to the timing of the 

codes and standards update processes. NIST stated that progress is just beginning on some of the 

Joplin building standards recommendations, but there is reason to be confident that tornado loads 

will be incorporated into ASCE 7 (2022). The Joplin, MO tornado changed prevailing attitudes 

on the need for tornado resistant design, and the Committee applauded NIST for their 

commitment to implement recommendations to changes in codes and standards. 

A Committee member communicated that there is a need for balance between the technical, 

economic, and design factors involved when working to get new provisions into the main 

building code. There has been resistance, however, to incorporating tornado design standards. 

Committee members raised that one of the challenges is that the tornado hazard map and load 

design work Dr. Levitan described does not have much effect on single family residential 

construction because the requirements are aimed at structures in Risk Categories III and IV. 

Risk Category III includes buildings that house a large number of people in one place, or house 

persons with limited mobility. This category includes theaters, prisons, and schools. Risk 

Category IV includes the essential buildings for community function and response, such as 

hospitals, fire stations, police stations, and emergency communications centers. Most residential 

and commercial buildings are included in Risk Category II. NIST responded that based on the 

current reliability targets in ASCE 7, the tornado speeds at the shorter return periods for Risk 

Category II buildings are low enough that tornado loads will not control the design over the 

current wind load requirements in the standard. NIST agreed that to date, the focus of the field 

has been on the use of shelters for reducing loss of life as opposed to tornado resistant residential 

housing. Further changes to residential building code requirements for tornado resistance will 

require perseverance. 

NIST scientists responded to several Committee members’ questions with additional explanation 

of the wind speed maps being developed. Wind speeds between tornadoes and straight-line 

winds cannot be directly compared to see which will control the design, due to differences in 

many other wind load coefficients. Slide number 17 from Dr. Levitan’s presentation showed that 

for a 10,000 square foot building in Risk Category III, the tornado design speed might be about 

80 miles per hour (mph). For the same building in Risk Category II, the tornado design speed is 

below 50 mph. NIST will be developing a tornado design guide in collaboration with FEMA 

that describes cost effective methods to improve tornado resistance for residential construction. 

NIST will work with the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) to propose incorporation 

of tornado load provisions for the ASCE 7-22 standard into the 2024 International Building Code 

(IBC). 

IV. Hurricane Maria Program Updates

Dr. Joe Main provided a summary of the progress of the Hurricane Maria NCST investigation. 

The presentation can be found here: 
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https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2020/07/22/05_Main_NCSTAC_June2020_Critica

lBuildings_FINAL.pdf

Dr. Donghun Yeo and Dr. Scott Weaver gave a joint presentation on the status of the project to 

characterize the Hurricane Maria hazards being conducted under the National Construction 

Safety Team Act. The presentation can be found here: 

https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2020/07/22/04_Yeo_Weaver_NCSTAC_June2020

_HazardCharacterization_FINAL.pdf

Discussion:

Based on significant differences in the reported measurements of rainfall in Puerto Rico during 

Hurricane Maria, NIST is working with NOAA, NASA and other stakeholders to evaluate how 

instrumentation functions in extreme environments. There are several factors to consider 

including the potential for failure of the communication systems associated with the 

measurement instrumentation, inaccuracies in the measurements recorded by the instruments, 

and other modes of failure. During Hurricane Maria, the radar instrumentation was destroyed, so 

hardening of the instruments may be a recommendation arising from the NCST investigation. 

With respect to measurements of flooding, an interagency flood mapping working group is 

working across federal agencies to improve alignment of flood event measurement. Through 

NWIRP, NIST is working to engage with these efforts as well as with those of a mobile 

coordinated network that is supplementing existing meteorological measurement systems. 

Dr. Joe Main gave a presentation on the status of the project focused on performance of critical 

buildings being conducted under the National Construction Safety Team Act. The presentation 

can be found here: 

https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2020/07/28/NCSTAC_June2020_CriticalBuildings

.pdf

Discussion

The Committee raised a question on the interaction between the critical buildings project under 

NCST and functional recovery projects under NWIRP. NIST responded that the focus of the 

critical buildings project is on documenting the factors that contributed to the damage and initial 

loss of function of these structures. NIST has a separate project under NWIRP focused on 

recovery of healthcare and educational services from hospitals and schools, respectively. The 

NWIRP project will examine the impact of building damage and loss of function—including 

structural, non-structural, loss of power, and electrical or generator failure—had on the recovery 

of school and hospital services over time. These projects will be complementary. Dr. Dillard’s 

slides on the recovery of social functions, presented later in the meeting, provided more 

information. 

The Committee raised a point about how rainfall related to storms is impactful to structures and 

the exposed population. For example, hurricane fatalities due to rain and subsequent flooding

outnumber those related to building damage and wind. Also, Committee members have observed 

that property damage and losses from hurricanes can be driven by damage caused by water, yet 

owners are sometimes insured for wind losses and not flood damage. NIST responded that the 

team has documentation of a small percentage of hospitals that experienced flooding during 
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Hurricane Maria. NIST is still collecting data, and it is too early to draw a conclusion, but 

generally, other factors caused the loss of function. NIST will be documenting these factors as 

part of this study.

Dr. Katherine Johnson gave a presentation on the status of the project focused on emergency 

communications and protective action before, during, and after Hurricane Maria being conducted 

under the National Construction Safety Team Act. The presentation can be found here: 

https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2020/07/22/06_Johnson_NCSTAC_June2020_Em

ergComms_FINAL.pdf

Discussion

There was a discussion about the alerts and warnings collected by NIST scientists and supporting 

team members. A Committee member asked what types of messages had been collected. NIST 

responded that there are several different message types and formats, such as press releases, 

news articles, and social media postings included in the dataset. NIST is cataloging those 

messages and considering whether these provide a representative sample to assess the 

effectiveness of those messages, or whether additional messages need to be collected. The focus 

has largely been on written messages, as they were the easiest to capture at the time. Radio

messages in rural communities were not generally archived for subsequent analysis, as compared 

to social media messages, but may be quite valuable. NIST is considering whether a set of 

guidelines should be established around collecting this kind of data when an event occurs. 

Dr. Judith Mitrani-Reiser gave a presentation on the status of the project focused on the 

characterization of morbidity and mortality being conducted under the National Construction 

Safety Team Act. The presentation can be found here: 

https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2020/07/24/07_MitraniReiser_NCSTAC_June2020_Mortality_FINAL.pdf

V. Committee Discussion of the Hurricane Maria NCST Investigation Progress and 

Collaborations

A Committee member raised a concern that verbal autopsies conducted in any mode other than 

face-to-face may be insufficient. The sensitivity of the topic makes doing the interviews by 

phone difficult because the interviewer is unable to read subtle, non-verbal signals that the 

respondent may provide. The use of a web conference platform with visual and audio was 

suggested as a way to address the issue. The challenges of data collection mode (e.g., phone, 

web) were discussed as part of pandemic related changes to methodology that are being 

anticipated. 

The Committee asked about the data that will be used to characterize deaths. NIST responded 

that the project will involve linking death certificate information with available medical records 

and working to triangulate data. Too often, death records do not account for underlying 

mechanisms and therefore, only capture injury-related deaths. Earlier reports used a single 

source of data to compare event deaths with deaths in prior years. These other studies were 

using the “excess deaths” approach - establish a baseline for mortality on the island, establish 

the number of deaths during a time period after the storm, and the difference can produce an 

estimate of the death toll from the storm. The intent of the NIST investigation, however, is not 

to provide another count of deaths in Puerto Rico. Rather, the intent is to establish how many 
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deaths were attributable to storm hazards or building damages. NIST will examine the time 

period of six months following the storm to better understand the principal causes of mortality 

that occurred, as well as to analyze temporal and spatial clustering of deaths. NIST cannot do 

the work to understand the injury mechanisms from the existing data; the additional step of 

conducting verbal autopsies to understand the specific conditions leading to an illness or death is 

necessary. An optional task within the contract award that is pending is to convene a panel of 

experts for the cases that are not clear; this is known as a clinical panel. Ultimately, NIST may 

use statistical, survey, and clinical panel methods to make a final attribution for deaths following 

Hurricane Maria. 

NIST is working to develop inclusion and exclusion criteria to help identify which data merits 

further investigation. NIST has retained a contractor to look at the first two weeks after the 

storm to more closely examine the causes in order to identify those deaths associated with 

building failures. 

This investigation will link all the investigation projects, and elements of the disaster discussed 

in earlier presentations. Even though NIST is doing mortality studies across the island, there will 

be information about failures of hospitals, shelters, and how risk communications were perceived 

by households in the four study areas shared by the projects. Linking these projects involves 

intensive weekly discussions among all the project leaders to ensure that everyone is aware of 

the project activities and proposed methods. This allows for the integration of cross-project 

needs.

VI. Public Comment Period: Dr. Harris asked if there was any member of the public 

participating in the meeting. Ben Davis indicated that there was one person who registered and 

NIST provided the meeting information, including a web link. There was no response from 

anyone on the phone or on the internet.

VII. Recovery of Infrastructure, Business and Social Functions

Dr. Kenneth Harrison gave a presentation on the status of the project focused on recovery of 

infrastructure systems supporting critical buildings and emergency communications being 

conducted under the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act. The presentation can be found 

here: 

https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2019/09/19/08_harrison_sept2019_infrastructure_n

cstac_090519_final.pdf

Dr. Jennifer Helgeson gave a presentation on the status of the project focused on recovery of 

businesses and the supply chain being conducted under the National Windstorm Impact 

Reduction Act. The presentation can be found here: 

https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2019/09/19/08_harrison_sept2019_infrastructure_n

cstac_090519_final.pdf

Dr. Maria Dillard gave a presentation on the status of the project focused on recovery of social 

functions being conducted under the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act. The 

presentation can be found here: 
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https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2020/07/27/10_Dillard_NCSTAC_June2020_Socia

l_Functions_FINAL.pdf

Discussion

The Committee raised some concerns about the timeframe required to award contracts. They 

asked whether the data collection associated with the NCST investigation and NWIRP study 

could have been conducted before the pandemic if the contracts had been awarded in a more 

timely fashion. Dr. Dillard responded that it may have been possible to have been in the field 

with some data collection efforts prior to the pandemic, but noted that the contractors are able to 

shift from on the ground, in-person data collection to other modes such as phone and online. 

The Committee asked for information about how long it took NIST to prepare and advertise the 

contracts, and how long it took from the time that it was advertised to when it was awarded. 

NIST responded that this information for the contracts awarded under the Hurricane Maria 

Program will be compiled and provided to the Committee.

The Committee asked how NIST will measure the recovery of various aspects of the community. 

NIST responded that the survey and interview instruments developed by NIST will include many 

indicators of recovery including self-reported assessments of recovery by the respondents. There 

is also existing data on repair progress that can be used to characterize recovery. For example, 

the Puerto Rico Department of Transportation has data on what happened to the roads during 

Hurricane Maria and the status of road repairs at various time intervals. NIST is working to 

determine the level of infrastructure support of the critical buildings and clarified that recovery 

may be defined differently for different people. Another measure of recovery comes from the 

assessment of business planning, specifically, the decision making that went into post-event 

recovery. In those cases where recovery has not gone as well as anticipated, NIST scientists can 

inquire about what happened in order to better understand the challenges and delays. 

NIST also explained that many members of this team have been instrumental in the collaborative 

NIST- Center of Excellence Hurricane Matthew Field Study in Lumberton, North Carolina. The 

different components of recovery in a community, such as housing, business, infrastructure, and 

schools are all being assessed in terms of how they interrelate and affect recovery for other 

sectors. The interdependencies can be measured across different geographic locations. 

The Committee noted that insurance companies often hire engineers to study whether the 

damage was from wind or water. If the damage is from water, the insurance company is often 

not liable for repairs. This can result in insufficient financial resources to repair damage for 

those who had not purchased flood insurance. In the context of Puerto Rico, flood insurance was 

not highly subscribed. NIST responded that this issue of wind versus water damage is being 

explored; NIST has a process within the survey instruments to assess damage states, the sources 

of damage, and the capacity for repairs.

The Committee asked if there were any cell tower failures due to water. NIST scientists 

responded that NIST has not gotten any information on flood damage to cell towers. There are 

photographs from American Towers, but the images were hard to decipher. Often there was 

damage to a cable, but that was not visible in a photograph. NIST will also look at towers and 

communications infrastructure that did not fail to understand good performance further. There is 

some information available about wind driven rain entering equipment; NIST is working to 

obtain more information of this kind.
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Dr. Maria Dillard updated the Committee on the Disaster and Failure Studies Program’s efforts 

to enhance the readiness of teams. The presentation can be found here: 

https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2020/07/22/11_Dillard_NCSTAC_June2020_DFS

%20Readiness_FINAL.pdf
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Discussion

The Committee asked if NIST considered scoring the dam failure events in Edenville and 

Sanford, Michigan in May. The dam failures required the evacuation of three communities in 

Michigan. 

NIST responded that data were collected on that event and scoring was considered. However, 

these events were not building failures and dam failures generally fall under other agency’s 

primary authority. The substantial emergency response and evacuation were of interest to NIST. 

The Committee asked about whether NIST has a mechanism to ensure data is being 

systematically archived, similar to the NSF DesignSafe team’s efforts to archive data and 

research tools. NIST response included that NIST and supporting contractors plan to utilize 

DesignSafe for some of the data collected. Additionally, with the support of researchers at Johns 

Hopkins University (JHU), NIST is working to develop NIST SciServer for storing disaster data 

and is ensuring that this platform is interoperable with DesignSafe and similar platforms. When 

NIST developed the statement of work for researchers at JHU, one of the tasks was to do a deep 

dive into DesignSafe and other agencies/organizations that house disaster data. Though there are 

challenges to a central national database because of limitations on what the federal government 

can share publicly, NIST’s goal is to create an instance of SciServer that provides many tools for 

engaging with the data within NIST and outside NIST, in other disaster portals. At present, data 

housed at NIST that is publicly available can be integrated into the NIST SciServer platform. 

NIST is working to expand the approvals for SciServer.

VII. Meeting Closure

Dr. Harary thanked the Committee for their comments and insightful questions, especially given 

the challenges of attending a virtual meeting. He also thanked the presenters. He looks forward 

to results in the Committee’s report and to hearing other questions and recommendations. 

Finally, he thanked Dr. Harris for his leadership of the Committee during his six years on the 

Committee. Committee Chair Harris concluded the meeting at 4:15 pm. 
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July 1, 2020

Meeting Summary

Advisory Committee Members:

James Harris, Chair J. R. Harris & Company 

Reginald DesRoches, Vice Chair Rice University

Ross Corotis University of Colorado, Boulder

William Holmes Rutherford + Chekene 

Gary Klein Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. 

Kimberly Shoaf Utah School of Medicine

Jeannette Sutton University of Kentucky 

NIST Representative

Benjamin Davis Designated Federal Officer, NCSTAC 

VIII. NCSTAC Preparation of Annual Report to Congress

The Committee planned and discussed how the NCSTAC Annual Report to Congress should be 

written. The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 pm EDT.