National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

December 3, 2018 

The Honorable Lamar Smith, Chairman 

House Committee on Science, Space & Technology 

2321 Rayburn House Office Building 

Washington, DC 20515 

Dear Chairman Smith: 

I am pleased to submit the 2018 Annual Report of the National Construction Safety Team 

(NCST) Advisory Committee (Committee) of the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST). The Committee serves as NIST’s advisor on implementation of the NCST 

Act (P.L. 107-231; the ‘Act’), and the opinions and recommendations expressed in this letter 

reflect our views as an independent, private sector body. This year the committee met by 

teleconference on February 20, May 16, and November 27 and in person at NIST in 

Gaithersburg, MD, on August 30. Except for the November 27 teleconference, these meetings 

have been used to brief the Committee on activities performed under the Act and closely related 

activities performed by NIST under other authorities. 

The Act directs that the Committee annually report our findings and recommendations to 

Congress in two areas: 

1. Evaluation of Team activities 

2. Assessment of the implementation of recommendations of the Team and the Committee. 

In recent years NIST has developed a system to rate the need and appropriateness of performing 

formal studies associated with each event and has conducted preliminary reconnaissance 

investigations of several important events, including Hurricanes Matthew and Harvey, the 

wildland-urban interface fire in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and the Fuse-47 construction fire in 

Silver Spring, MD. Many of these studies involved collaboration with other Federal agencies, 

especially FEMA and NOAA. The Committee has reviewed the scoring criteria and applauds 

the proactive approach to search for learning opportunities. 

The Committee commends the cooperation with Natural Hazards Reconnaissance Facility 

(RAPID) of the Federally funded Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) 

program, and recommends looking for additional opportunities for collaboration with other 

aspects of NHERI, especially the recently activated SimCenter and the newly established 

CONVERGE Center. 

This year NIST established a Team under the Act to conduct a study of Hurricane Maria’s 

impacts on Puerto Rico, which is the first such major investigation since the 2011 tornado in 

Joplin, Missouri. The Committee has been briefed on the considerations involved in the 

selection of Hurricane Maria, the results of preliminary investigations, and the plans for detailed 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

studies. The Committee believes the decision is well founded and looks forward to the findings 

from the studies. We anticipate there will be subsequent recommendations for ways to mitigate 

the impacts of future events. 

The death toll from Maria has been a subject in the news. Death certificates are the primary and 

official source of mortality statistics, but, as NCST experts pointed out, they typically do not 

provide the information needed to determine if a death results from a disaster. Since the number 

of deaths will remain the most important measure of the severity of a disaster, more consistent 

methods are needed to measure deaths and injuries that are attributable to the event, and great 

care is needed both to communicate such information clearly to the public and for comparison 

with other events, past and future. The Committee highly commends NCST for initiating studies 

into measuring deaths and injuries from disasters. We look forward to the development of 

standards for measuring this mortality. 

Social science research is a key part of the Maria study, and any such research conducted in the 

field needs to account for local social norms in order to effectively gather information. We 

believe collaboration with researchers who are resident in the community of interest is necessary 

to accomplish this, especially in Puerto Rico, and we support the efforts NIST is already making 

in their plans for that study. 

Social media is becoming an important source of disaster information. The Committee 

recommends that NIST work, and collaborate with others, to develop strategies and research 

methodologies to ethically access, collect, analyze, and use such data. 

NIST is continuing to work on lessons learned in the study of the Joplin Tornado. One of the 

recommendations from that study has been an important factor in the re-examination of the 

historical database of tornado occurrence and the development of new analytical models for 

predicting tornado hazards. The first draft of new maps of tornado windspeeds that could be 

useful in building codes is scheduled for January 2019. The Committee sees this as an important 

result of the Joplin study and specifically in line with the “Purpose” stated in the Act to improve 

the safety and structural integrity of buildings in the United States. We expect these maps 

eventually will have a significant effect upon the design and construction of buildings in tornadoprone regions. The current focus for these new maps and provisions is the American Society of 

Civil Engineers standard (ASCE/SEI 7) that is the source of building code provisions for 

engineered buildings. Single family homes are a very large fraction of all construction, and the 

construction of nearly all single-family homes is controlled by the International Residential Code 

(IRC), rather than the previously cited engineering standards. Therefore, the Committee 

recommends that NIST also undertake studies to enable improvements to the IRC. 

Disasters and building failures are inherently unpredictable. Nevertheless, in the interest of 

public safety, the NCST must have sufficient available staff and funding to respond. At the same 

time, federal agencies must work within fixed annual budgets. As noted in last year’s letter, one 

possible consideration is to include specific allocation for investigations in the funding 

mechanisms that are created when a Federal disaster is declared. Additionally, consistent with 

past practices, annual budgets should include a base-line allowance for responding to new 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

events, as well as budgeted amounts for long-term studies that can be deferred so resources can 

be shifted to new unbudgeted events. The Committee urges Congress to support needed 

flexibility in funding and resource allocation. 

In summary, the Committee finds the NCST program to be highly valuable and relevant to the 

safety of our population. We commend the current administration at NIST for their diligence in 

evaluating events for worthwhile study and the commitment to finding the funding to carry out 

the studies when justified. Related to that, we also want to restate our recommendation to 

Congress that the Act be revised, for the reasons given in our report one year ago. The effects of 

the failure of the power grid in Puerto Rico on the functionality of essential buildings is just one 

example that supports our recommendations on this subject. The specific changes that we 

recommend are appended to this letter. 

Sincerely yours, 

James Robert Harris, P.E., Ph.D., NAE, Hon. Memb. ACI 

Chair, National Construction Safety Advisory Committee 

Attachment 

 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Appendix 

Proposed amendments to the NCST Act: 

Sec. 2, paragraph (a): 

“...after events causing the failure of a building or buildings structure that has resulted in 

substantial loss of life or that posed significant potential for substantial loss of life. Where the 

failure of the structure is the proper subject for investigation by another Federal agency, the 

Director shall defer to the authority of that agency. To the maximum extent practicable...” 

And Sec. 2, paragraph (b) 

“(1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of investigation by Teams is to improve the safety and structural 

integrity of buildings the built environment in the United States. 

And replace the term “buildings” with “the built environment” in Sec. 2 paragraph (b)(2)(D) 

And replace the term “building standards, codes, and practices” with “engineering standards, 

practices, and building codes” at the following locations: 

Sec. 8 paragraph (3) 

Sec. 9, paragraph (2) 

Sec. 14 

And replace the term “building failure” with “failure” at the following locations: 

Sec. 2, paragraph (b)(2)(a) 

Sec. 2, paragraph (c)(1)(G) 

Sec. 2, paragraph (c)(1)(J) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(1) [2 locations]

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(a) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(2) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (c)(1) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (c)(2) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (d)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (d)(4) 

Sec. 7, paragraph (c) 

Sec. 8, paragraph (1) 

Sec. 8, paragraph (4) 

And replace the term “building components” with “components” at the following locations: 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(1) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(1) 

And broaden Sec. 4, paragraph (d) on Interagency Priorities to include other agencies that have 

legislative mandates for the investigation of the failure of selected types of failures, such as the 

Army COE for dams and levees, the NRC nuclear power generation, the DOE for nuclear 

weapons facilities, and the DOT for vehicular bridges. [Such mandates are assumed, not 

verified, by this advisory committee]

Lastly, unrelated to the preceding, consider updating Sec. 2 paragraph (c)(1)(J) by adding a 

reference to the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program. 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

December 3, 2018 

The Honorable Eddie Bernice Johnson, Ranking Member

House Committee on Science, Space & Technology 

2321 Rayburn House Office Building 

Washington, DC 20515 

Dear Representative Johnson: 

I am pleased to submit the 2018 Annual Report of the National Construction Safety Team 

(NCST) Advisory Committee (Committee) of the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST). The Committee serves as NIST’s advisor on implementation of the NCST 

Act (P.L. 107-231; the ‘Act’), and the opinions and recommendations expressed in this letter 

reflect our views as an independent, private sector body. This year the committee met by 

teleconference on February 20, May 16, and November 27 and in person at NIST in 

Gaithersburg, MD, on August 30. Except for the November 27 teleconference, these meetings 

have been used to brief the Committee on activities performed under the Act and closely related 

activities performed by NIST under other authorities. 

The Act directs that the Committee annually report our findings and recommendations to 

Congress in two areas: 

1. Evaluation of Team activities 

2. Assessment of the implementation of recommendations of the Team and the Committee. 

In recent years NIST has developed a system to rate the need and appropriateness of performing 

formal studies associated with each event and has conducted preliminary reconnaissance 

investigations of several important events, including Hurricanes Matthew and Harvey, the 

wildland-urban interface fire in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and the Fuse-47 construction fire in 

Silver Spring, MD. Many of these studies involved collaboration with other Federal agencies, 

especially FEMA and NOAA. The Committee has reviewed the scoring criteria and applauds 

the proactive approach to search for learning opportunities. 

The Committee commends the cooperation with Natural Hazards Reconnaissance Facility 

(RAPID) of the Federally funded Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) 

program, and recommends looking for additional opportunities for collaboration with other 

aspects of NHERI, especially the recently activated SimCenter and the newly established 

CONVERGE Center. 

This year NIST established a Team under the Act to conduct a study of Hurricane Maria’s 

impacts on Puerto Rico, which is the first such major investigation since the 2011 tornado in 

Joplin, Missouri. The Committee has been briefed on the considerations involved in the 

selection of Hurricane Maria, the results of preliminary investigations, and the plans for detailed 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

studies. The Committee believes the decision is well founded and looks forward to the findings 

from the studies. We anticipate there will be subsequent recommendations for ways to mitigate 

the impacts of future events. 

The death toll from Maria has been a subject in the news. Death certificates are the primary and 

official source of mortality statistics, but, as NCST experts pointed out, they typically do not 

provide the information needed to determine if a death results from a disaster. Since the number 

of deaths will remain the most important measure of the severity of a disaster, more consistent 

methods are needed to measure deaths and injuries that are attributable to the event, and great 

care is needed both to communicate such information clearly to the public and for comparison 

with other events, past and future. The Committee highly commends NCST for initiating studies 

into measuring deaths and injuries from disasters. We look forward to the development of 

standards for measuring this mortality. 

Social science research is a key part of the Maria study, and any such research conducted in the 

field needs to account for local social norms in order to effectively gather information. We 

believe collaboration with researchers who are resident in the community of interest is necessary 

to accomplish this, especially in Puerto Rico, and we support the efforts NIST is already making 

in their plans for that study. 

Social media is becoming an important source of disaster information. The Committee 

recommends that NIST work, and collaborate with others, to develop strategies and research 

methodologies to ethically access, collect, analyze, and use such data. 

NIST is continuing to work on lessons learned in the study of the Joplin Tornado. One of the 

recommendations from that study has been an important factor in the re-examination of the 

historical database of tornado occurrence and the development of new analytical models for 

predicting tornado hazards. The first draft of new maps of tornado windspeeds that could be 

useful in building codes is scheduled for January 2019. The Committee sees this as an important 

result of the Joplin study and specifically in line with the “Purpose” stated in the Act to improve 

the safety and structural integrity of buildings in the United States. We expect these maps 

eventually will have a significant effect upon the design and construction of buildings in tornadoprone regions. The current focus for these new maps and provisions is the American Society of 

Civil Engineers standard (ASCE/SEI 7) that is the source of building code provisions for 

engineered buildings. Single family homes are a very large fraction of all construction, and the 

construction of nearly all single-family homes is controlled by the International Residential Code 

(IRC), rather than the previously cited engineering standards. Therefore, the Committee 

recommends that NIST also undertake studies to enable improvements to the IRC. 

Disasters and building failures are inherently unpredictable. Nevertheless, in the interest of 

public safety, the NCST must have sufficient available staff and funding to respond. At the same 

time, federal agencies must work within fixed annual budgets. As noted in last year’s letter, one 

possible consideration is to include specific allocation for investigations in the funding 

mechanisms that are created when a Federal disaster is declared. Additionally, consistent with 

past practices, annual budgets should include a base-line allowance for responding to new 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

events, as well as budgeted amounts for long-term studies that can be deferred so resources can 

be shifted to new unbudgeted events. The Committee urges Congress to support needed 

flexibility in funding and resource allocation. 

In summary, the Committee finds the NCST program to be highly valuable and relevant to the 

safety of our population. We commend the current administration at NIST for their diligence in 

evaluating events for worthwhile study and the commitment to finding the funding to carry out 

the studies when justified. Related to that, we also want to restate our recommendation to 

Congress that the Act be revised, for the reasons given in our report one year ago. The effects of 

the failure of the power grid in Puerto Rico on the functionality of essential buildings is just one 

example that supports our recommendations on this subject. The specific changes that we 

recommend are appended to this letter. 

Sincerely yours, 

James Robert Harris, P.E., Ph.D., NAE, Hon. Memb. ACI 

Chair, National Construction Safety Advisory Committee 

Attachment 

 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Appendix 

Proposed amendments to the NCST Act: 

Sec. 2, paragraph (a): 

“...after events causing the failure of a building or buildings structure that has resulted in 

substantial loss of life or that posed significant potential for substantial loss of life. Where the 

failure of the structure is the proper subject for investigation by another Federal agency, the 

Director shall defer to the authority of that agency. To the maximum extent practicable...” 

And Sec. 2, paragraph (b) 

“(1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of investigation by Teams is to improve the safety and structural 

integrity of buildings the built environment in the United States. 

And replace the term “buildings” with “the built environment” in Sec. 2 paragraph (b)(2)(D) 

And replace the term “building standards, codes, and practices” with “engineering standards, 

practices, and building codes” at the following locations: 

Sec. 8 paragraph (3) 

Sec. 9, paragraph (2) 

Sec. 14 

And replace the term “building failure” with “failure” at the following locations: 

Sec. 2, paragraph (b)(2)(a) 

Sec. 2, paragraph (c)(1)(G) 

Sec. 2, paragraph (c)(1)(J) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(1) [2 locations]

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(a) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(2) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (c)(1) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (c)(2) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (d)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (d)(4) 

Sec. 7, paragraph (c) 

Sec. 8, paragraph (1) 

Sec. 8, paragraph (4) 

And replace the term “building components” with “components” at the following locations: 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(1) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(1) 

And broaden Sec. 4, paragraph (d) on Interagency Priorities to include other agencies that have 

legislative mandates for the investigation of the failure of selected types of failures, such as the 

Army COE for dams and levees, the NRC nuclear power generation, the DOE for nuclear 

weapons facilities, and the DOT for vehicular bridges. [Such mandates are assumed, not 

verified, by this advisory committee]

Lastly, unrelated to the preceding, consider updating Sec. 2 paragraph (c)(1)(J) by adding a 

reference to the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program. 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

December 3, 2018 

The Honorable Barbara Comstock, Chairlady 

Subcommittee on Research and Technology 

House Committee on Science, Space & Technology 

2321 Rayburn House Office Building 

Washington, DC 20515 

Dear Chairwoman Comstock: 

I am pleased to submit the 2018 Annual Report of the National Construction Safety Team 

(NCST) Advisory Committee (Committee) of the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST). The Committee serves as NIST’s advisor on implementation of the NCST 

Act (P.L. 107-231; the ‘Act’), and the opinions and recommendations expressed in this letter 

reflect our views as an independent, private sector body. This year the committee met by 

teleconference on February 20, May 16, and November 27 and in person at NIST in 

Gaithersburg, MD, on August 30. Except for the November 27 teleconference, these meetings 

have been used to brief the Committee on activities performed under the Act and closely related 

activities performed by NIST under other authorities. 

The Act directs that the Committee annually report our findings and recommendations to 

Congress in two areas: 

1. Evaluation of Team activities 

2. Assessment of the implementation of recommendations of the Team and the Committee. 

In recent years NIST has developed a system to rate the need and appropriateness of performing 

formal studies associated with each event and has conducted preliminary reconnaissance 

investigations of several important events, including Hurricanes Matthew and Harvey, the 

wildland-urban interface fire in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and the Fuse-47 construction fire in 

Silver Spring, MD. Many of these studies involved collaboration with other Federal agencies, 

especially FEMA and NOAA. The Committee has reviewed the scoring criteria and applauds 

the proactive approach to search for learning opportunities. 

The Committee commends the cooperation with Natural Hazards Reconnaissance Facility 

(RAPID) of the Federally funded Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) 

program, and recommends looking for additional opportunities for collaboration with other 

aspects of NHERI, especially the recently activated SimCenter and the newly established 

CONVERGE Center. 

This year NIST established a Team under the Act to conduct a study of Hurricane Maria’s 

impacts on Puerto Rico, which is the first such major investigation since the 2011 tornado in 

Joplin, Missouri. The Committee has been briefed on the considerations involved in the 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

selection of Hurricane Maria, the results of preliminary investigations, and the plans for detailed 

studies. The Committee believes the decision is well founded and looks forward to the findings 

from the studies. We anticipate there will be subsequent recommendations for ways to mitigate 

the impacts of future events. 

The death toll from Maria has been a subject in the news. Death certificates are the primary and 

official source of mortality statistics, but, as NCST experts pointed out, they typically do not 

provide the information needed to determine if a death results from a disaster. Since the number 

of deaths will remain the most important measure of the severity of a disaster, more consistent 

methods are needed to measure deaths and injuries that are attributable to the event, and great 

care is needed both to communicate such information clearly to the public and for comparison 

with other events, past and future. The Committee highly commends NCST for initiating studies 

into measuring deaths and injuries from disasters. We look forward to the development of 

standards for measuring this mortality. 

Social science research is a key part of the Maria study, and any such research conducted in the 

field needs to account for local social norms in order to effectively gather information. We 

believe collaboration with researchers who are resident in the community of interest is necessary 

to accomplish this, especially in Puerto Rico, and we support the efforts NIST is already making 

in their plans for that study. 

Social media is becoming an important source of disaster information. The Committee 

recommends that NIST work, and collaborate with others, to develop strategies and research 

methodologies to ethically access, collect, analyze, and use such data. 

NIST is continuing to work on lessons learned in the study of the Joplin Tornado. One of the 

recommendations from that study has been an important factor in the re-examination of the 

historical database of tornado occurrence and the development of new analytical models for 

predicting tornado hazards. The first draft of new maps of tornado windspeeds that could be 

useful in building codes is scheduled for January 2019. The Committee sees this as an important 

result of the Joplin study and specifically in line with the “Purpose” stated in the Act to improve 

the safety and structural integrity of buildings in the United States. We expect these maps 

eventually will have a significant effect upon the design and construction of buildings in tornadoprone regions. The current focus for these new maps and provisions is the American Society of 

Civil Engineers standard (ASCE/SEI 7) that is the source of building code provisions for 

engineered buildings. Single family homes are a very large fraction of all construction, and the 

construction of nearly all single-family homes is controlled by the International Residential Code 

(IRC), rather than the previously cited engineering standards. Therefore, the Committee 

recommends that NIST also undertake studies to enable improvements to the IRC. 

Disasters and building failures are inherently unpredictable. Nevertheless, in the interest of 

public safety, the NCST must have sufficient available staff and funding to respond. At the same 

time, federal agencies must work within fixed annual budgets. As noted in last year’s letter, one 

possible consideration is to include specific allocation for investigations in the funding 

mechanisms that are created when a Federal disaster is declared. Additionally, consistent with 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

past practices, annual budgets should include a base-line allowance for responding to new 

events, as well as budgeted amounts for long-term studies that can be deferred so resources can 

be shifted to new unbudgeted events. The Committee urges Congress to support needed 

flexibility in funding and resource allocation. 

In summary, the Committee finds the NCST program to be highly valuable and relevant to the 

safety of our population. We commend the current administration at NIST for their diligence in 

evaluating events for worthwhile study and the commitment to finding the funding to carry out 

the studies when justified. Related to that, we also want to restate our recommendation to 

Congress that the Act be revised, for the reasons given in our report one year ago. The effects of 

the failure of the power grid in Puerto Rico on the functionality of essential buildings is just one 

example that supports our recommendations on this subject. The specific changes that we 

recommend are appended to this letter. 

Sincerely yours, 

James Robert Harris, P.E., Ph.D., NAE, Hon. Memb. ACI 

Chair, National Construction Safety Advisory Committee 

Attachment 

 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Appendix 

Proposed amendments to the NCST Act: 

Sec. 2, paragraph (a): 

“...after events causing the failure of a building or buildings structure that has resulted in 

substantial loss of life or that posed significant potential for substantial loss of life. Where the 

failure of the structure is the proper subject for investigation by another Federal agency, the 

Director shall defer to the authority of that agency. To the maximum extent practicable...” 

And Sec. 2, paragraph (b) 

“(1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of investigation by Teams is to improve the safety and structural 

integrity of buildings the built environment in the United States. 

And replace the term “buildings” with “the built environment” in Sec. 2 paragraph (b)(2)(D) 

And replace the term “building standards, codes, and practices” with “engineering standards, 

practices, and building codes” at the following locations: 

Sec. 8 paragraph (3) 

Sec. 9, paragraph (2) 

Sec. 14 

And replace the term “building failure” with “failure” at the following locations: 

Sec. 2, paragraph (b)(2)(a) 

Sec. 2, paragraph (c)(1)(G) 

Sec. 2, paragraph (c)(1)(J) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(1) [2 locations]

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(a) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(2) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (c)(1) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (c)(2) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (d)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (d)(4) 

Sec. 7, paragraph (c) 

Sec. 8, paragraph (1) 

Sec. 8, paragraph (4) 

And replace the term “building components” with “components” at the following locations: 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(1) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(1) 

And broaden Sec. 4, paragraph (d) on Interagency Priorities to include other agencies that have 

legislative mandates for the investigation of the failure of selected types of failures, such as the 

Army COE for dams and levees, the NRC nuclear power generation, the DOE for nuclear 

weapons facilities, and the DOT for vehicular bridges. [Such mandates are assumed, not 

verified, by this advisory committee]

Lastly, unrelated to the preceding, consider updating Sec. 2 paragraph (c)(1)(J) by adding a 

reference to the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program. 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

December 3, 2018 

The Honorable Daniel Lipinski, Ranking Member 

Subcommittee on Research and Technology 

House Committee on Science, Space & Technology 

2321 Rayburn House Office Building 

Washington, DC 20515 

Dear Representative Lipinski: 

I am pleased to submit the 2018 Annual Report of the National Construction Safety Team 

(NCST) Advisory Committee (Committee) of the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST). The Committee serves as NIST’s advisor on implementation of the NCST 

Act (P.L. 107-231; the ‘Act’), and the opinions and recommendations expressed in this letter 

reflect our views as an independent, private sector body. This year the committee met by 

teleconference on February 20, May 16, and November 27 and in person at NIST in 

Gaithersburg, MD, on August 30. Except for the November 27 teleconference, these meetings 

have been used to brief the Committee on activities performed under the Act and closely related 

activities performed by NIST under other authorities. 

The Act directs that the Committee annually report our findings and recommendations to 

Congress in two areas: 

1. Evaluation of Team activities 

2. Assessment of the implementation of recommendations of the Team and the Committee. 

In recent years NIST has developed a system to rate the need and appropriateness of performing 

formal studies associated with each event and has conducted preliminary reconnaissance 

investigations of several important events, including Hurricanes Matthew and Harvey, the 

wildland-urban interface fire in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and the Fuse-47 construction fire in 

Silver Spring, MD. Many of these studies involved collaboration with other Federal agencies, 

especially FEMA and NOAA. The Committee has reviewed the scoring criteria and applauds 

the proactive approach to search for learning opportunities. 

The Committee commends the cooperation with Natural Hazards Reconnaissance Facility 

(RAPID) of the Federally funded Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) 

program, and recommends looking for additional opportunities for collaboration with other 

aspects of NHERI, especially the recently activated SimCenter and the newly established 

CONVERGE Center. 

This year NIST established a Team under the Act to conduct a study of Hurricane Maria’s 

impacts on Puerto Rico, which is the first such major investigation since the 2011 tornado in 

Joplin, Missouri. The Committee has been briefed on the considerations involved in the 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

selection of Hurricane Maria, the results of preliminary investigations, and the plans for detailed 

studies. The Committee believes the decision is well founded and looks forward to the findings 

from the studies. We anticipate there will be subsequent recommendations for ways to mitigate 

the impacts of future events. 

The death toll from Maria has been a subject in the news. Death certificates are the primary and 

official source of mortality statistics, but, as NCST experts pointed out, they typically do not 

provide the information needed to determine if a death results from a disaster. Since the number 

of deaths will remain the most important measure of the severity of a disaster, more consistent 

methods are needed to measure deaths and injuries that are attributable to the event, and great 

care is needed both to communicate such information clearly to the public and for comparison 

with other events, past and future. The Committee highly commends NCST for initiating studies 

into measuring deaths and injuries from disasters. We look forward to the development of 

standards for measuring this mortality. 

Social science research is a key part of the Maria study, and any such research conducted in the 

field needs to account for local social norms in order to effectively gather information. We 

believe collaboration with researchers who are resident in the community of interest is necessary 

to accomplish this, especially in Puerto Rico, and we support the efforts NIST is already making 

in their plans for that study. 

Social media is becoming an important source of disaster information. The Committee 

recommends that NIST work, and collaborate with others, to develop strategies and research 

methodologies to ethically access, collect, analyze, and use such data. 

NIST is continuing to work on lessons learned in the study of the Joplin Tornado. One of the 

recommendations from that study has been an important factor in the re-examination of the 

historical database of tornado occurrence and the development of new analytical models for 

predicting tornado hazards. The first draft of new maps of tornado windspeeds that could be 

useful in building codes is scheduled for January 2019. The Committee sees this as an important 

result of the Joplin study and specifically in line with the “Purpose” stated in the Act to improve 

the safety and structural integrity of buildings in the United States. We expect these maps 

eventually will have a significant effect upon the design and construction of buildings in tornadoprone regions. The current focus for these new maps and provisions is the American Society of 

Civil Engineers standard (ASCE/SEI 7) that is the source of building code provisions for 

engineered buildings. Single family homes are a very large fraction of all construction, and the 

construction of nearly all single-family homes is controlled by the International Residential Code 

(IRC), rather than the previously cited engineering standards. Therefore, the Committee 

recommends that NIST also undertake studies to enable improvements to the IRC. 

Disasters and building failures are inherently unpredictable. Nevertheless, in the interest of 

public safety, the NCST must have sufficient available staff and funding to respond. At the same 

time, federal agencies must work within fixed annual budgets. As noted in last year’s letter, one 

possible consideration is to include specific allocation for investigations in the funding 

mechanisms that are created when a Federal disaster is declared. Additionally, consistent with 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

past practices, annual budgets should include a base-line allowance for responding to new 

events, as well as budgeted amounts for long-term studies that can be deferred so resources can 

be shifted to new unbudgeted events. The Committee urges Congress to support needed 

flexibility in funding and resource allocation. 

In summary, the Committee finds the NCST program to be highly valuable and relevant to the 

safety of our population. We commend the current administration at NIST for their diligence in 

evaluating events for worthwhile study and the commitment to finding the funding to carry out 

the studies when justified. Related to that, we also want to restate our recommendation to 

Congress that the Act be revised, for the reasons given in our report one year ago. The effects of 

the failure of the power grid in Puerto Rico on the functionality of essential buildings is just one 

example that supports our recommendations on this subject. The specific changes that we 

recommend are appended to this letter. 

Sincerely yours, 

James Robert Harris, P.E., Ph.D., NAE, Hon. Memb. ACI 

Chair, National Construction Safety Advisory Committee 

Attachment 

 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Appendix 

Proposed amendments to the NCST Act: 

Sec. 2, paragraph (a): 

“...after events causing the failure of a building or buildings structure that has resulted in 

substantial loss of life or that posed significant potential for substantial loss of life. Where the 

failure of the structure is the proper subject for investigation by another Federal agency, the 

Director shall defer to the authority of that agency. To the maximum extent practicable...” 

And Sec. 2, paragraph (b) 

“(1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of investigation by Teams is to improve the safety and structural 

integrity of buildings the built environment in the United States. 

And replace the term “buildings” with “the built environment” in Sec. 2 paragraph (b)(2)(D) 

And replace the term “building standards, codes, and practices” with “engineering standards, 

practices, and building codes” at the following locations: 

Sec. 8 paragraph (3) 

Sec. 9, paragraph (2) 

Sec. 14 

And replace the term “building failure” with “failure” at the following locations: 

Sec. 2, paragraph (b)(2)(a) 

Sec. 2, paragraph (c)(1)(G) 

Sec. 2, paragraph (c)(1)(J) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(1) [2 locations]

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(a) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(2) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (c)(1) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (c)(2) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (d)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (d)(4) 

Sec. 7, paragraph (c) 

Sec. 8, paragraph (1) 

Sec. 8, paragraph (4) 

And replace the term “building components” with “components” at the following locations: 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(1) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(1) 

And broaden Sec. 4, paragraph (d) on Interagency Priorities to include other agencies that have 

legislative mandates for the investigation of the failure of selected types of failures, such as the 

Army COE for dams and levees, the NRC nuclear power generation, the DOE for nuclear 

weapons facilities, and the DOT for vehicular bridges. [Such mandates are assumed, not 

verified, by this advisory committee]

Lastly, unrelated to the preceding, consider updating Sec. 2 paragraph (c)(1)(J) by adding a 

reference to the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program. 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

December 3, 2018 

The Honorable John Thune, Chairman 

Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation 

512 Dirksen Office Building 

Washington, DC 20510 

Dear Chairman Thune: 

I am pleased to submit the 2018 Annual Report of the National Construction Safety Team 

(NCST) Advisory Committee (Committee) of the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST). The Committee serves as NIST’s advisor on implementation of the NCST 

Act (P.L. 107-231; the ‘Act’), and the opinions and recommendations expressed in this letter 

reflect our views as an independent, private sector body. This year the committee met by 

teleconference on February 20, May 16, and November 27 and in person at NIST in 

Gaithersburg, MD, on August 30. Except for the November 27 teleconference, these meetings 

have been used to brief the Committee on activities performed under the Act and closely related 

activities performed by NIST under other authorities. 

The Act directs that the Committee annually report our findings and recommendations to 

Congress in two areas: 

1. Evaluation of Team activities 

2. Assessment of the implementation of recommendations of the Team and the Committee. 

In recent years NIST has developed a system to rate the need and appropriateness of performing 

formal studies associated with each event and has conducted preliminary reconnaissance 

investigations of several important events, including Hurricanes Matthew and Harvey, the 

wildland-urban interface fire in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and the Fuse-47 construction fire in 

Silver Spring, MD. Many of these studies involved collaboration with other Federal agencies, 

especially FEMA and NOAA. The Committee has reviewed the scoring criteria and applauds 

the proactive approach to search for learning opportunities. 

The Committee commends the cooperation with Natural Hazards Reconnaissance Facility 

(RAPID) of the Federally funded Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) 

program, and recommends looking for additional opportunities for collaboration with other 

aspects of NHERI, especially the recently activated SimCenter and the newly established 

CONVERGE Center. 

This year NIST established a Team under the Act to conduct a study of Hurricane Maria’s 

impacts on Puerto Rico, which is the first such major investigation since the 2011 tornado in 

Joplin, Missouri. The Committee has been briefed on the considerations involved in the 

selection of Hurricane Maria, the results of preliminary investigations, and the plans for detailed 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

studies. The Committee believes the decision is well founded and looks forward to the findings 

from the studies. We anticipate there will be subsequent recommendations for ways to mitigate 

the impacts of future events. 

The death toll from Maria has been a subject in the news. Death certificates are the primary and 

official source of mortality statistics, but, as NCST experts pointed out, they typically do not 

provide the information needed to determine if a death results from a disaster. Since the number 

of deaths will remain the most important measure of the severity of a disaster, more consistent 

methods are needed to measure deaths and injuries that are attributable to the event, and great 

care is needed both to communicate such information clearly to the public and for comparison 

with other events, past and future. The Committee highly commends NCST for initiating studies 

into measuring deaths and injuries from disasters. We look forward to the development of 

standards for measuring this mortality. 

Social science research is a key part of the Maria study, and any such research conducted in the 

field needs to account for local social norms in order to effectively gather information. We 

believe collaboration with researchers who are resident in the community of interest is necessary 

to accomplish this, especially in Puerto Rico, and we support the efforts NIST is already making 

in their plans for that study. 

Social media is becoming an important source of disaster information. The Committee 

recommends that NIST work, and collaborate with others, to develop strategies and research 

methodologies to ethically access, collect, analyze, and use such data. 

NIST is continuing to work on lessons learned in the study of the Joplin Tornado. One of the 

recommendations from that study has been an important factor in the re-examination of the 

historical database of tornado occurrence and the development of new analytical models for 

predicting tornado hazards. The first draft of new maps of tornado windspeeds that could be 

useful in building codes is scheduled for January 2019. The Committee sees this as an important 

result of the Joplin study and specifically in line with the “Purpose” stated in the Act to improve 

the safety and structural integrity of buildings in the United States. We expect these maps 

eventually will have a significant effect upon the design and construction of buildings in tornadoprone regions. The current focus for these new maps and provisions is the American Society of 

Civil Engineers standard (ASCE/SEI 7) that is the source of building code provisions for 

engineered buildings. Single family homes are a very large fraction of all construction, and the 

construction of nearly all single-family homes is controlled by the International Residential Code 

(IRC), rather than the previously cited engineering standards. Therefore, the Committee 

recommends that NIST also undertake studies to enable improvements to the IRC. 

Disasters and building failures are inherently unpredictable. Nevertheless, in the interest of 

public safety, the NCST must have sufficient available staff and funding to respond. At the same 

time, federal agencies must work within fixed annual budgets. As noted in last year’s letter, one 

possible consideration is to include specific allocation for investigations in the funding 

mechanisms that are created when a Federal disaster is declared. Additionally, consistent with 

past practices, annual budgets should include a base-line allowance for responding to new 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

events, as well as budgeted amounts for long-term studies that can be deferred so resources can 

be shifted to new unbudgeted events. The Committee urges Congress to support needed 

flexibility in funding and resource allocation. 

In summary, the Committee finds the NCST program to be highly valuable and relevant to the 

safety of our population. We commend the current administration at NIST for their diligence in 

evaluating events for worthwhile study and the commitment to finding the funding to carry out 

the studies when justified. Related to that, we also want to restate our recommendation to 

Congress that the Act be revised, for the reasons given in our report one year ago. The effects of 

the failure of the power grid in Puerto Rico on the functionality of essential buildings is just one 

example that supports our recommendations on this subject. The specific changes that we 

recommend are appended to this letter. 

Sincerely yours, 

James Robert Harris, P.E., Ph.D., NAE, Hon. Memb. ACI 

Chair, National Construction Safety Advisory Committee 

Attachment 

 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Appendix 

Proposed amendments to the NCST Act: 

Sec. 2, paragraph (a): 

“...after events causing the failure of a building or buildings structure that has resulted in 

substantial loss of life or that posed significant potential for substantial loss of life. Where the 

failure of the structure is the proper subject for investigation by another Federal agency, the 

Director shall defer to the authority of that agency. To the maximum extent practicable...” 

And Sec. 2, paragraph (b) 

“(1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of investigation by Teams is to improve the safety and structural 

integrity of buildings the built environment in the United States. 

And replace the term “buildings” with “the built environment” in Sec. 2 paragraph (b)(2)(D) 

And replace the term “building standards, codes, and practices” with “engineering standards, 

practices, and building codes” at the following locations: 

Sec. 8 paragraph (3) 

Sec. 9, paragraph (2) 

Sec. 14 

And replace the term “building failure” with “failure” at the following locations: 

Sec. 2, paragraph (b)(2)(a) 

Sec. 2, paragraph (c)(1)(G) 

Sec. 2, paragraph (c)(1)(J) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(1) [2 locations]

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(a) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(2) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (c)(1) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (c)(2) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (d)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (d)(4) 

Sec. 7, paragraph (c) 

Sec. 8, paragraph (1) 

Sec. 8, paragraph (4) 

And replace the term “building components” with “components” at the following locations: 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(1) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(1) 

And broaden Sec. 4, paragraph (d) on Interagency Priorities to include other agencies that have 

legislative mandates for the investigation of the failure of selected types of failures, such as the 

Army COE for dams and levees, the NRC nuclear power generation, the DOE for nuclear 

weapons facilities, and the DOT for vehicular bridges. [Such mandates are assumed, not 

verified, by this advisory committee]

Lastly, unrelated to the preceding, consider updating Sec. 2 paragraph (c)(1)(J) by adding a 

reference to the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program. 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

December 3, 2018 

The Honorable Bill Nelson, Ranking Member 

Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation 

512 Dirksen Office Building 

Washington, DC 20510 

Dear Senator Nelson: 

I am pleased to submit the 2018 Annual Report of the National Construction Safety Team 

(NCST) Advisory Committee (Committee) of the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST). The Committee serves as NIST’s advisor on implementation of the NCST 

Act (P.L. 107-231; the ‘Act’), and the opinions and recommendations expressed in this letter 

reflect our views as an independent, private sector body. This year the committee met by 

teleconference on February 20, May 16, and November 27 and in person at NIST in 

Gaithersburg, MD, on August 30. Except for the November 27 teleconference, these meetings 

have been used to brief the Committee on activities performed under the Act and closely related 

activities performed by NIST under other authorities. 

The Act directs that the Committee annually report our findings and recommendations to 

Congress in two areas: 

1. Evaluation of Team activities 

2. Assessment of the implementation of recommendations of the Team and the Committee. 

In recent years NIST has developed a system to rate the need and appropriateness of performing 

formal studies associated with each event and has conducted preliminary reconnaissance 

investigations of several important events, including Hurricanes Matthew and Harvey, the 

wildland-urban interface fire in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and the Fuse-47 construction fire in 

Silver Spring, MD. Many of these studies involved collaboration with other Federal agencies, 

especially FEMA and NOAA. The Committee has reviewed the scoring criteria and applauds 

the proactive approach to search for learning opportunities. 

The Committee commends the cooperation with Natural Hazards Reconnaissance Facility 

(RAPID) of the Federally funded Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) 

program, and recommends looking for additional opportunities for collaboration with other 

aspects of NHERI, especially the recently activated SimCenter and the newly established 

CONVERGE Center. 

This year NIST established a Team under the Act to conduct a study of Hurricane Maria’s 

impacts on Puerto Rico, which is the first such major investigation since the 2011 tornado in 

Joplin, Missouri. The Committee has been briefed on the considerations involved in the 

selection of Hurricane Maria, the results of preliminary investigations, and the plans for detailed 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

studies. The Committee believes the decision is well founded and looks forward to the findings 

from the studies. We anticipate there will be subsequent recommendations for ways to mitigate 

the impacts of future events. 

The death toll from Maria has been a subject in the news. Death certificates are the primary and 

official source of mortality statistics, but, as NCST experts pointed out, they typically do not 

provide the information needed to determine if a death results from a disaster. Since the number 

of deaths will remain the most important measure of the severity of a disaster, more consistent 

methods are needed to measure deaths and injuries that are attributable to the event, and great 

care is needed both to communicate such information clearly to the public and for comparison 

with other events, past and future. The Committee highly commends NCST for initiating studies 

into measuring deaths and injuries from disasters. We look forward to the development of 

standards for measuring this mortality. 

Social science research is a key part of the Maria study, and any such research conducted in the 

field needs to account for local social norms in order to effectively gather information. We 

believe collaboration with researchers who are resident in the community of interest is necessary 

to accomplish this, especially in Puerto Rico, and we support the efforts NIST is already making 

in their plans for that study. 

Social media is becoming an important source of disaster information. The Committee 

recommends that NIST work, and collaborate with others, to develop strategies and research 

methodologies to ethically access, collect, analyze, and use such data. 

NIST is continuing to work on lessons learned in the study of the Joplin Tornado. One of the 

recommendations from that study has been an important factor in the re-examination of the 

historical database of tornado occurrence and the development of new analytical models for 

predicting tornado hazards. The first draft of new maps of tornado windspeeds that could be 

useful in building codes is scheduled for January 2019. The Committee sees this as an important 

result of the Joplin study and specifically in line with the “Purpose” stated in the Act to improve 

the safety and structural integrity of buildings in the United States. We expect these maps 

eventually will have a significant effect upon the design and construction of buildings in tornadoprone regions. The current focus for these new maps and provisions is the American Society of 

Civil Engineers standard (ASCE/SEI 7) that is the source of building code provisions for 

engineered buildings. Single family homes are a very large fraction of all construction, and the 

construction of nearly all single-family homes is controlled by the International Residential Code 

(IRC), rather than the previously cited engineering standards. Therefore, the Committee 

recommends that NIST also undertake studies to enable improvements to the IRC. 

Disasters and building failures are inherently unpredictable. Nevertheless, in the interest of 

public safety, the NCST must have sufficient available staff and funding to respond. At the same 

time, federal agencies must work within fixed annual budgets. As noted in last year’s letter, one 

possible consideration is to include specific allocation for investigations in the funding 

mechanisms that are created when a Federal disaster is declared. Additionally, consistent with 

past practices, annual budgets should include a base-line allowance for responding to new 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

events, as well as budgeted amounts for long-term studies that can be deferred so resources can 

be shifted to new unbudgeted events. The Committee urges Congress to support needed 

flexibility in funding and resource allocation. 

In summary, the Committee finds the NCST program to be highly valuable and relevant to the 

safety of our population. We commend the current administration at NIST for their diligence in 

evaluating events for worthwhile study and the commitment to finding the funding to carry out 

the studies when justified. Related to that, we also want to restate our recommendation to 

Congress that the Act be revised, for the reasons given in our report one year ago. The effects of 

the failure of the power grid in Puerto Rico on the functionality of essential buildings is just one 

example that supports our recommendations on this subject. The specific changes that we 

recommend are appended to this letter. 

Sincerely yours, 

James Robert Harris, P.E., Ph.D., NAE, Hon. Memb. ACI 

Chair, National Construction Safety Advisory Committee 

Attachment 

 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Appendix 

Proposed amendments to the NCST Act: 

Sec. 2, paragraph (a): 

“...after events causing the failure of a building or buildings structure that has resulted in 

substantial loss of life or that posed significant potential for substantial loss of life. Where the 

failure of the structure is the proper subject for investigation by another Federal agency, the 

Director shall defer to the authority of that agency. To the maximum extent practicable...” 

And Sec. 2, paragraph (b) 

“(1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of investigation by Teams is to improve the safety and structural 

integrity of buildings the built environment in the United States. 

And replace the term “buildings” with “the built environment” in Sec. 2 paragraph (b)(2)(D) 

And replace the term “building standards, codes, and practices” with “engineering standards, 

practices, and building codes” at the following locations: 

Sec. 8 paragraph (3) 

Sec. 9, paragraph (2) 

Sec. 14 

And replace the term “building failure” with “failure” at the following locations: 

Sec. 2, paragraph (b)(2)(a) 

Sec. 2, paragraph (c)(1)(G) 

Sec. 2, paragraph (c)(1)(J) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(1) [2 locations]

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(a) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(2) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (c)(1) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (c)(2) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (d)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (d)(4) 

Sec. 7, paragraph (c) 

Sec. 8, paragraph (1) 

Sec. 8, paragraph (4) 

And replace the term “building components” with “components” at the following locations: 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(1) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(1) 

And broaden Sec. 4, paragraph (d) on Interagency Priorities to include other agencies that have 

legislative mandates for the investigation of the failure of selected types of failures, such as the 

Army COE for dams and levees, the NRC nuclear power generation, the DOE for nuclear 

weapons facilities, and the DOT for vehicular bridges. [Such mandates are assumed, not 

verified, by this advisory committee]

Lastly, unrelated to the preceding, consider updating Sec. 2 paragraph (c)(1)(J) by adding a 

reference to the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program. 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

December 3, 2018 

The Honorable Ted Cruz, Chairman 

Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness

Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation 

512 Dirksen Office Building 

Washington, DC 20510 

Dear Chairman Cruz: 

I am pleased to submit the 2018 Annual Report of the National Construction Safety Team 

(NCST) Advisory Committee (Committee) of the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST). The Committee serves as NIST’s advisor on implementation of the NCST 

Act (P.L. 107-231; the ‘Act’), and the opinions and recommendations expressed in this letter 

reflect our views as an independent, private sector body. This year the committee met by 

teleconference on February 20, May 16, and November 27 and in person at NIST in 

Gaithersburg, MD, on August 30. Except for the November 27 teleconference, these meetings 

have been used to brief the Committee on activities performed under the Act and closely related 

activities performed by NIST under other authorities. 

The Act directs that the Committee annually report our findings and recommendations to 

Congress in two areas: 

1. Evaluation of Team activities 

2. Assessment of the implementation of recommendations of the Team and the 

Committee. 

In recent years NIST has developed a system to rate the need and appropriateness of performing 

formal studies associated with each event and has conducted preliminary reconnaissance 

investigations of several important events, including Hurricanes Matthew and Harvey, the 

wildland-urban interface fire in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and the Fuse-47 construction fire in 

Silver Spring, MD. Many of these studies involved collaboration with other Federal agencies, 

especially FEMA and NOAA. The Committee has reviewed the scoring criteria and applauds 

the proactive approach to search for learning opportunities. 

The Committee commends the cooperation with Natural Hazards Reconnaissance Facility 

(RAPID) of the Federally funded Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) 

program, and recommends looking for additional opportunities for collaboration with other 

aspects of NHERI, especially the recently activated SimCenter and the newly established 

CONVERGE Center. 

This year NIST established a Team under the Act to conduct a study of Hurricane Maria’s 

impacts on Puerto Rico, which is the first such major investigation since the 2011 tornado in 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Joplin, Missouri. The Committee has been briefed on the considerations involved in the 

selection of Hurricane Maria, the results of preliminary investigations, and the plans for detailed 

studies. The Committee believes the decision is well founded and looks forward to the findings 

from the studies. We anticipate there will be subsequent recommendations for ways to mitigate 

the impacts of future events. 

The death toll from Maria has been a subject in the news. Death certificates are the primary and 

official source of mortality statistics, but, as NCST experts pointed out, they typically do not 

provide the information needed to determine if a death results from a disaster. Since the number 

of deaths will remain the most important measure of the severity of a disaster, more consistent 

methods are needed to measure deaths and injuries that are attributable to the event, and great 

care is needed both to communicate such information clearly to the public and for comparison 

with other events, past and future. The Committee highly commends NCST for initiating studies 

into measuring deaths and injuries from disasters. We look forward to the development of 

standards for measuring this mortality. 

Social science research is a key part of the Maria study, and any such research conducted in the 

field needs to account for local social norms in order to effectively gather information. We 

believe collaboration with researchers who are resident in the community of interest is necessary 

to accomplish this, especially in Puerto Rico, and we support the efforts NIST is already making 

in their plans for that study. 

Social media is becoming an important source of disaster information. The Committee 

recommends that NIST work, and collaborate with others, to develop strategies and research 

methodologies to ethically access, collect, analyze, and use such data. 

NIST is continuing to work on lessons learned in the study of the Joplin Tornado. One of the 

recommendations from that study has been an important factor in the re-examination of the 

historical database of tornado occurrence and the development of new analytical models for 

predicting tornado hazards. The first draft of new maps of tornado windspeeds that could be 

useful in building codes is scheduled for January 2019. The Committee sees this as an important 

result of the Joplin study and specifically in line with the “Purpose” stated in the Act to improve 

the safety and structural integrity of buildings in the United States. We expect these maps 

eventually will have a significant effect upon the design and construction of buildings in tornadoprone regions. The current focus for these new maps and provisions is the American Society of 

Civil Engineers standard (ASCE/SEI 7) that is the source of building code provisions for 

engineered buildings. Single family homes are a very large fraction of all construction, and the 

construction of nearly all single-family homes is controlled by the International Residential Code 

(IRC), rather than the previously cited engineering standards. Therefore, the Committee 

recommends that NIST also undertake studies to enable improvements to the IRC. 

Disasters and building failures are inherently unpredictable. Nevertheless, in the interest of 

public safety, the NCST must have sufficient available staff and funding to respond. At the same 

time, federal agencies must work within fixed annual budgets. As noted in last year’s letter, one 

possible consideration is to include specific allocation for investigations in the funding 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

mechanisms that are created when a Federal disaster is declared. Additionally, consistent with 

past practices, annual budgets should include a base-line allowance for responding to new 

events, as well as budgeted amounts for long-term studies that can be deferred so resources can 

be shifted to new unbudgeted events. The Committee urges Congress to support needed 

flexibility in funding and resource allocation. 

In summary, the Committee finds the NCST program to be highly valuable and relevant to the 

safety of our population. We commend the current administration at NIST for their diligence in 

evaluating events for worthwhile study and the commitment to finding the funding to carry out 

the studies when justified. Related to that, we also want to restate our recommendation to 

Congress that the Act be revised, for the reasons given in our report one year ago. The effects of 

the failure of the power grid in Puerto Rico on the functionality of essential buildings is just one 

example that supports our recommendations on this subject. The specific changes that we 

recommend are appended to this letter. 

Sincerely yours, 

James Robert Harris, P.E., Ph.D., NAE, Hon. Memb. ACI 

Chair, National Construction Safety Advisory Committee 

Attachment 

 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Appendix 

Proposed amendments to the NCST Act: 

Sec. 2, paragraph (a): 

“...after events causing the failure of a building or buildings structure that has resulted in 

substantial loss of life or that posed significant potential for substantial loss of life. Where the 

failure of the structure is the proper subject for investigation by another Federal agency, the 

Director shall defer to the authority of that agency. To the maximum extent practicable...” 

And Sec. 2, paragraph (b) 

“(1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of investigation by Teams is to improve the safety and structural 

integrity of buildings the built environment in the United States. 

And replace the term “buildings” with “the built environment” in Sec. 2 paragraph (b)(2)(D) 

And replace the term “building standards, codes, and practices” with “engineering standards, 

practices, and building codes” at the following locations: 

Sec. 8 paragraph (3) 

Sec. 9, paragraph (2) 

Sec. 14 

And replace the term “building failure” with “failure” at the following locations: 

Sec. 2, paragraph (b)(2)(a) 

Sec. 2, paragraph (c)(1)(G) 

Sec. 2, paragraph (c)(1)(J) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(1) [2 locations]

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(a) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(2) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (c)(1) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (c)(2) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (d)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (d)(4) 

Sec. 7, paragraph (c) 

Sec. 8, paragraph (1) 

Sec. 8, paragraph (4) 

And replace the term “building components” with “components” at the following locations: 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(1) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(1) 

And broaden Sec. 4, paragraph (d) on Interagency Priorities to include other agencies that have 

legislative mandates for the investigation of the failure of selected types of failures, such as the 

Army COE for dams and levees, the NRC nuclear power generation, the DOE for nuclear 

weapons facilities, and the DOT for vehicular bridges. [Such mandates are assumed, not 

verified, by this advisory committee]

Lastly, unrelated to the preceding, consider updating Sec. 2 paragraph (c)(1)(J) by adding a 

reference to the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program. 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

December 3, 2018 

The Honorable Edward J Markey, Ranking Member 

Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness

Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation 

512 Dirksen Office Building 

Washington, DC 20510 

Dear Senator Markey: 

I am pleased to submit the 2018 Annual Report of the National Construction Safety Team 

(NCST) Advisory Committee (Committee) of the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST). The Committee serves as NIST’s advisor on implementation of the NCST 

Act (P.L. 107-231; the ‘Act’), and the opinions and recommendations expressed in this letter 

reflect our views as an independent, private sector body. This year the committee met by 

teleconference on February 20, May 16, and November 27 and in person at NIST in 

Gaithersburg, MD, on August 30. Except for the November 27 teleconference, these meetings 

have been used to brief the Committee on activities performed under the Act and closely related 

activities performed by NIST under other authorities. 

The Act directs that the Committee annually report our findings and recommendations to 

Congress in two areas: 

3. Evaluation of Team activities 

4. Assessment of the implementation of recommendations of the Team and the Committee. 

In recent years NIST has developed a system to rate the need and appropriateness of performing 

formal studies associated with each event and has conducted preliminary reconnaissance 

investigations of several important events, including Hurricanes Matthew and Harvey, the 

wildland-urban interface fire in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and the Fuse-47 construction fire in 

Silver Spring, MD. Many of these studies involved collaboration with other Federal agencies, 

especially FEMA and NOAA. The Committee has reviewed the scoring criteria and applauds 

the proactive approach to search for learning opportunities. 

The Committee commends the cooperation with Natural Hazards Reconnaissance Facility 

(RAPID) of the Federally funded Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) 

program, and recommends looking for additional opportunities for collaboration with other 

aspects of NHERI, especially the recently activated SimCenter and the newly established 

CONVERGE Center. 

This year NIST established a Team under the Act to conduct a study of Hurricane Maria’s 

impacts on Puerto Rico, which is the first such major investigation since the 2011 tornado in 

Joplin, Missouri. The Committee has been briefed on the considerations involved in the 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

selection of Hurricane Maria, the results of preliminary investigations, and the plans for detailed 

studies. The Committee believes the decision is well founded and looks forward to the findings 

from the studies. We anticipate there will be subsequent recommendations for ways to mitigate 

the impacts of future events. 

The death toll from Maria has been a subject in the news. Death certificates are the primary and 

official source of mortality statistics, but, as NCST experts pointed out, they typically do not 

provide the information needed to determine if a death results from a disaster. Since the number 

of deaths will remain the most important measure of the severity of a disaster, more consistent 

methods are needed to measure deaths and injuries that are attributable to the event, and great 

care is needed both to communicate such information clearly to the public and for comparison 

with other events, past and future. The Committee highly commends NCST for initiating studies 

into measuring deaths and injuries from disasters. We look forward to the development of 

standards for measuring this mortality. 

Social science research is a key part of the Maria study, and any such research conducted in the 

field needs to account for local social norms in order to effectively gather information. We 

believe collaboration with researchers who are resident in the community of interest is necessary 

to accomplish this, especially in Puerto Rico, and we support the efforts NIST is already making 

in their plans for that study. 

Social media is becoming an important source of disaster information. The Committee 

recommends that NIST work, and collaborate with others, to develop strategies and research 

methodologies to ethically access, collect, analyze, and use such data. 

NIST is continuing to work on lessons learned in the study of the Joplin Tornado. One of the 

recommendations from that study has been an important factor in the re-examination of the 

historical database of tornado occurrence and the development of new analytical models for 

predicting tornado hazards. The first draft of new maps of tornado windspeeds that could be 

useful in building codes is scheduled for January 2019. The Committee sees this as an important 

result of the Joplin study and specifically in line with the “Purpose” stated in the Act to improve 

the safety and structural integrity of buildings in the United States. We expect these maps 

eventually will have a significant effect upon the design and construction of buildings in tornadoprone regions. The current focus for these new maps and provisions is the American Society of 

Civil Engineers standard (ASCE/SEI 7) that is the source of building code provisions for 

engineered buildings. Single family homes are a very large fraction of all construction, and the 

construction of nearly all single-family homes is controlled by the International Residential Code 

(IRC), rather than the previously cited engineering standards. Therefore, the Committee 

recommends that NIST also undertake studies to enable improvements to the IRC. 

Disasters and building failures are inherently unpredictable. Nevertheless, in the interest of 

public safety, the NCST must have sufficient available staff and funding to respond. At the same 

time, federal agencies must work within fixed annual budgets. As noted in last year’s letter, one 

possible consideration is to include specific allocation for investigations in the funding 

mechanisms that are created when a Federal disaster is declared. Additionally, consistent with 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

past practices, annual budgets should include a base-line allowance for responding to new 

events, as well as budgeted amounts for long-term studies that can be deferred so resources can 

be shifted to new unbudgeted events. The Committee urges Congress to support needed 

flexibility in funding and resource allocation. 

In summary, the Committee finds the NCST program to be highly valuable and relevant to the 

safety of our population. We commend the current administration at NIST for their diligence in 

evaluating events for worthwhile study and the commitment to finding the funding to carry out 

the studies when justified. Related to that, we also want to restate our recommendation to 

Congress that the Act be revised, for the reasons given in our report one year ago. The effects of 

the failure of the power grid in Puerto Rico on the functionality of essential buildings is just one 

example that supports our recommendations on this subject. The specific changes that we 

recommend are appended to this letter. 

Sincerely yours, 

James Robert Harris, P.E., Ph.D., NAE, Hon. Memb. ACI 

Chair, National Construction Safety Advisory Committee 

Attachment 

 
National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Appendix 

Proposed amendments to the NCST Act: 

Sec. 2, paragraph (a): 

“...after events causing the failure of a building or buildings structure that has resulted in 

substantial loss of life or that posed significant potential for substantial loss of life. Where the 

failure of the structure is the proper subject for investigation by another Federal agency, the 

Director shall defer to the authority of that agency. To the maximum extent practicable...” 

And Sec. 2, paragraph (b) 

“(1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of investigation by Teams is to improve the safety and structural 

integrity of buildings the built environment in the United States. 

And replace the term “buildings” with “the built environment” in Sec. 2 paragraph (b)(2)(D) 

And replace the term “building standards, codes, and practices” with “engineering standards, 

practices, and building codes” at the following locations: 

Sec. 8 paragraph (3) 

Sec. 9, paragraph (2) 

Sec. 14 

And replace the term “building failure” with “failure” at the following locations: 

Sec. 2, paragraph (b)(2)(a) 

Sec. 2, paragraph (c)(1)(G) 

Sec. 2, paragraph (c)(1)(J) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(1) [2 locations]

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(a) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(2) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (c)(1) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (c)(2) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (d)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (d)(4) 

Sec. 7, paragraph (c) 

Sec. 8, paragraph (1) 

Sec. 8, paragraph (4) 

And replace the term “building components” with “components” at the following locations: 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(1) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (a)(3) 

Sec. 4, paragraph (b)(1) 

And broaden Sec. 4, paragraph (d) on Interagency Priorities to include other agencies that have 

legislative mandates for the investigation of the failure of selected types of failures, such as the 

Army COE for dams and levees, the NRC nuclear power generation, the DOE for nuclear 

weapons facilities, and the DOT for vehicular bridges. [Such mandates are assumed, not 

verified, by this advisory committee]

Lastly, unrelated to the preceding, consider updating Sec. 2 paragraph (c)(1)(J) by adding a 

reference to the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program.