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National Institute of Standards and Technology

National Construction Safety Team Act

Annual Report

Fiscal Year (FY) 2016

Summary

This annual report to Congress for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 is required by the National Construction

Safety Team (NCST) Act (Public Law 107-231). The National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST) did not undertake any new NCST investigations, nor did it continue any 

NCST investigations in FY 2016.

In FY 2016, NIST continued carrying out implementation of the recommendation to develop

consensus standards and code provisions related to progressive collapse from the World Trade 

Center investigation final report (September, 2005).

1 NIST also continued carrying out the 16 

recommendations in the Joplin tornado investigation final report (March, 2014).

2

 Highlights of

FY 2016 implementation activities include the approval of proposals developed by NIST 

providing requirements and guidance for selection of existing facilities for use as shelters and best 

available refuge areas for tornadoes and other hazards in the new National Fire Protection 

Association (NFPA) Standard for Mass Evacuation and Sheltering (NFPA 1616), a newly 

developed annex by NIST on community-wide public alerts and warnings in rapid-onset 

emergencies submitted as first-draft public input to NFPA 1600 Standard on Disaster/Emergency 

Management and Business Continuity/Continuity of Operations Programs, and publication of a 

new Commentary to the International Code Council’s (ICC) Standard for the Design and

Construction of Storm Shelters (ICC 500-2014), developed in collaboration with the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and several other members of the standards committee.

Additionally, NIST held one face-to-face meeting of the NCST Advisory Committee (AC) during 

FY 2016. The meeting3 was held at NIST on May 3, 2016. In this meeting, NIST briefed the AC 

on: 

• progress of NIST implementation of the Joplin tornado investigation recommendations;

• availability for public access of the NIST Chile Earthquake Data Repository;

• status of the Center for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning; and 

• the Reauthorization of the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program (NWIRP) by 

Congress. 

A summary of the discussions at this meeting may also be found in the FY 2016 Annual Report of 

the NCST AC to Congress.

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Introduction

In October 2002, the NCST Act was signed into law by President George W. Bush and authorized

the Director of NIST to establish and deploy Teams to investigate events leading to failure of a

 1 Report available at: http://www.nist.gov/customcf/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=909017 2 Report available at: http://www.nist.gov/customcf/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=915628 3 Meeting summary available at:

http://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2016/10/12/ncst_ac_may_3_2016_meeting_summary.pdf

4 FY 2016 NCST AC Report to Congress available at: 

https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2016/10/06/2016_report_to_congress_with_signatures.pdf
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building or buildings that result in substantial loss of life or that pose significant potential for

substantial loss of life.

The purpose of these investigations is to improve the safety and structural integrity of buildings in 

the United States (U.S.). A Team shall:

1. Establish the likely technical cause or causes of building failure;

2. Evaluate the technical aspects of evacuation and emergency response procedures;

3. Recommend as necessary, specific improvements to building standards, codes, and 

practices based on the findings made pursuant to (1) and (2); and,

4. Recommend any research and other appropriate actions needed to improve the structural 

safety of buildings, and improve the evacuation and emergency response procedures, based 

on the findings and recommendations of the investigation.

Under Section 10 of the NCST Act, NIST is to provide an annual report to the House Committee

on Science, Space, and Technology and to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation by February 15 of each year. This report is to include:

1. A summary of the investigations conducted by Teams during the prior fiscal year;

2. A summary of recommendations made by the Teams in reports issued under Section 8 of 

the NCST Act during the prior fiscal year and a description of the extent to which those 

recommendations have been implemented; and

3. A description of the actions taken to improve building safety and structural integrity by the 

NIST during the prior fiscal year in response to reports issued under Section 8 of the NCST 

Act.

This report summarizes NIST’s activities under the NCST Act for FY 2016 as required by Section 

10 of the Act. 

1. Investigations Conducted Under the NCST Act during FY 2016

During FY 2016, NIST neither undertook nor continued any investigations under the NCST 

Act. NIST uses a screening tool to assess the need for NCST investigations of disasters and 

failures that includes the following key decision criteria: substantial loss of life or disabling 

injury; significant potential for loss of life; hazard intensity; consequences to resilience; major 

challenges in evacuation and/or emergency response; safety of first responders; new 

knowledge gains; and potential impact to existing standards, codes, and guidelines. Nine 

domestic and international events were scored in FY 2016, including one building collapse, 

one flood, one tornado, two fires, and four earthquakes. Eight of the nine events scored did not 

meet preliminary deployment criteria for one or more of the following reasons: no clear 

objectives for impacting standards, codes, and practices; unsafe conditions for NIST 

investigators; no primary authority or in-house expertise of hazard type; construction practice 

and codes for locality are not similar to those used in the U.S.; no new lessons would be 

gained; and minimal impact to building occupants. One international event scored above the 

necessary threshold required to consider a preliminary NCST deployment. However, the 

answers to six additional questions used as criteria about deployment resulted in the decision 

to not deploy; the main reasons for this decision were the unsafe site conditions due to a major 

land slide caused by the earthquake and the lack of clear objectives that would impact U.S. 

codes, standards, and practice.
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2. Summary of Recommendations Made by Teams in Reports Issued Under Section 8 of the 

NCST Act during FY 2016

During FY 2016, NIST did not issue a report under Section 8 of the NCST Act.

3. Actions Taken to Improve Building Safety and Structural Integrity during FY 2016 in 

Response to Reports Issued Under Section 8 of the NCST Act

During FY 2016, NIST convened one face-to-face meeting of the NCST Advisory Committee 

(AC). The meeting was held at NIST on May 3, 2016. In this meeting, NIST briefed the AC on:

• progress of NIST implementation of the Joplin tornado investigation recommendations;

• availability for public access of the NIST Chile Earthquake Data Repository; 

• status of the Center for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning; and 

• the Reauthorization of the NWIRP by Congress.

a. Actions Related to Report on the NIST World Trade Center Investigation:

In its Final Report on the Collapse of the World Trade Center Towers1

, NIST recommended that 

“progressive collapse be prevented in buildings through the development and nationwide adoption 

of consensus standards and code provisions.” In FY 2012, based on a proposal from NIST, a new 

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)/ Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) Standards 

Committee called the “Disproportionate Collapse Mitigation Standard” Committee was 

established. This voluntary standards committee is currently developing a standard, with 

substantial contributions from four NIST staff who are translating the results of NIST research into 

the standard. Additional information about changes to building codes and standards as a result of 

this investigation can be found at: 

http://www.nist.gov/el/disasterstudies/wtc/wtc_recommendations.cfm.

b. Actions Related to Report on the NIST Joplin Tornado Investigation:

NIST has taken the following actions during FY 2016 to implement the recommendations to 

improve building safety and structural integrity and found in Chapter 9 of the Joplin tornado 

investigation final report2:

• Completed work, in collaboration with FEMA and several other standards committee 

members, on the new Commentary to the ICC 500-2014 Standard for the Design and 

Construction of Storm Shelters. The Commentary was published by ICC in February 

2016. This effort supports NIST recommendation #8 (of Recommendations Group 2, 

Performance of Buildings, Shelters, Designated Safe Areas, and Lifelines, in the final 

report2).

• Completed work on requirements and guidance for selection of shelters and best available 

refuge areas in existing buildings for tornadoes and other hazards, which has been 

approved for inclusion in the new National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1616 

Standard for Mass Evacuation and Sheltering. This effort supports NIST recommendation 

#8 (of Recommendations Group 2, Performance of Buildings, Shelters, Designated Safe 

Areas, and Lifelines, in the final report2

).
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• Worked with FEMA and the ICC’s Building Code Action Committee (BCAC) to develop 

and submit a proposal for the 2018 International Building Code (IBC) requiring that

facilities designated by the emergency management authority having jurisdiction as 

emergency shelters must be designed as Risk Category IV structures, which includes 

community storm shelters. This effort supports NIST recommendation #8 (of 

Recommendations Group 2, Performance of Buildings, Shelters, Designated Safe Areas, 

and Lifelines, in the final report2).

• Developed and submitted a code change proposal with the BCAC for the 2018 IBC to 

prohibit use of aggregate as surfacing for roof coverings and as roof ballast in tornadoprone regions, and conducted and published an economic study5 that documented the 

minimal cost impact of the proposed code change. This effort supports NIST 

recommendation #10 (of Recommendations Group 2, Performance of Buildings, Shelters, 

Designated Safe Areas, and Lifelines, in the final report2).

• Continued work developing Tornado Hazard Maps for use in tornado-resistant design of 

buildings. This effort directly addresses NIST recommendation #3 and provides 

prerequisite technical underpinning for recommendations #5 and #6 (of Recommendations 

Group 2, Performance of Buildings, Shelters, Designated Safe Areas, and Lifelines, in the 

final report2

).

• Continued work with the ASCE SEI committee that is developing the new ASCE/SEI 

Tornado Wind Speed Estimation Standard. The standards committee, co-chaired by the 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NIST staff, is developing

standardized methods for estimating the wind speeds in tornadoes and other severe wind 

storms. This activity on standards development directly addresses both NIST

recommendations #2 and #4, and supports NIST recommendations #1 and #3 (of 

Recommendations Group 1, Tornado Hazard Characteristics and Associated Wind Field, 

in the final report2).

• NIST staff continued to lead the Tornado Working Group within the ad-hoc ASCE 

committee on Performance-Based Design for Wind Hazards, addressing NIST

recommendation #5 and supporting NIST recommendation #6 (of Recommendations 

Group 2, Performance of Buildings, Shelters, Designated Safe Areas, and Lifelines, in the 

final report2).

• NIST staff continued working with FEMA on development of a new methodology and 

revised guidance for selection of best available tornado refuge areas in existing buildings. 

This effort supports NIST recommendation #9 (of Recommendations Group 2, 

Performance of Buildings, Shelters, Designated Safe Areas, and Lifelines, in the final 

report2

).

• NIST staff conducted a workshop with emergency managers and National Weather Service 

representatives from 13 jurisdictions within U.S. tornado-prone areas to provide feedback 

on NIST-developed interim guidance on standardizing outdoor siren system policies, 

including siren tones, usage of the system, and system testing. This effort supports NIST 

recommendations #13, #14, and #15 (of Recommendations Group 3, Pattern, Location, 

and Cause of Fatalities and Injuries, and Associated Performance of Emergency 

Communications Systems and Public Response, in the final report2).

• NIST developed and submitted an annex on community-wide public alerts and warnings in 

rapid-onset emergencies as a first-draft for public input to NFPA 1600 Standard on 

Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity/Continuity of Operations 

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 Technical Note available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.1930
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Programs. This effort supports NIST recommendations #13, #14, and #15 (of 

Recommendations Group 3, Pattern, Location, and Cause of Fatalities and Injuries, and 

Associated Performance of Emergency Communications Systems and Public Response, in 

the final report2).

In addition to the above, NOAA’s National Severe Storms Lab (NSSL) is making significant 

progress developing a new hazardous weather forecasting paradigm, called Forecasting a 

Continuum of Environmental Threats (FACETs). FACETs includes a grid-based, all-hazard 

watch/warning paradigm for communicating probabilistic threats. This effort supports NIST 

recommendation #16 (of Recommendations Group 3, Pattern, Location, and Cause of Fatalities 

and Injuries, and Associated Performance of Emergency Communications Systems and Public 

Response, in the final report2).

4. Other NIST Activities Related to the NCST Act

No other NIST activities related to the NCST Act took place during FY 2016.

5. Conclusion

The NCST Act authorizes NIST to establish and deploy teams to investigate building failures that 

result in a substantial loss of life or pose significant potential for loss of life. In FY 2016, NIST 

assessed nine events (fires, earthquakes, tornado, and flood) that may have required preliminary 

NCST investigations using a screening tool that considers: substantial loss of life or disabling 

injury; significant potential for loss of life; hazard intensity; consequences to resilience; major 

challenges in evacuation and/or emergency response; safety of first responders; new 

knowledge gains; and potential impact to existing standards, codes, and guidelines. Based on 

the results from this screening tool, NIST did not undertake or continue any investigations 

under the NCST Act. NIST did pursue actions related to improving building safety and 

structural integrity that were recommended by previous NCST investigations. NIST presented 

FY 2016 activities to the NCST Advisory Committee during an in-person meeting at the 

Gaithersburg campus.