by Brianna Crandall — February 17, 2016—Prior to the start of the White House Earthquake Resilience Summit, President Obama issued an Executive Order: Establishing a Federal Earthquake Risk Management Standard that calls for new, leased and regulated federal buildings to meet seismic safety provisions outlined in the International Building Code (IBC) and the International Residential Code (IRC), according to a release from the International Code Council (ICC), which produces both model codes.
The IBC and IRC are developed through the Council’s governmental consensus process and updated regularly to reflect the latest advancements in building science.
ICC Chief Executive Officer Dominic Sims, CBO, who served as a panelist at the Earthquake Resilience Summit, said:
There is no more important contributor to reducing communities’ risks from earthquakes than the adoption and application of modern building codes and standards. To survive and remain resilient, and to assure the rapid recovery of local economies, communities must employ the most up-to-date code provisions. This Executive Order ensures that federal facilities and their occupants will be safe when the next earthquake strikes.
The Code Council works collaboratively with the National Institute of Building Sciences and the American Society of Civil Engineers to translate National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program provisions into the IBC. The Council’s three-year code development cycles incorporate the most up-to-date science and technology for seismic safety for broad use by designers, contractors, manufacturers and code officials.
The Executive Order calls for federal agencies to comply with the provisions of updated versions of the IBC and IRC within two years of their release.
The Executive Order also calls for the use of Standards of Seismic Safety for Existing Federally Owned and Leased Buildings, developed and issued by the Interagency Committee on Seismic Safety in Construction (ICSSC), for existing facilities. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) serves as the lead for the ICSSC.
The Code Council is launching a massive effort to assure designers and contractors have code-approved products for installation and inspection at facilities and that manufacturers can demonstrate compliance and get their products to market quickly.
In addition to seismic provisions for new and existing buildings, the Summit focused on early warning detection systems and new commitments to increasing earthquake awareness and safety for the public.
The American Institute of Architects applauded the move in a statement from AIA President Russell Davidson, FAIA, released February 5.
