by Brianna Crandall — November 29, 2017 — With support from the US Department of Defense (DoD) Corrosion Policy and Oversight Office, the WBDG–Whole Building Design Guide has published new informational content to help facilities experts stay current on best practices in corrosion prevention and mitigation.
A program of the National Institute of Building Sciences, the WBDG is a far-reaching, Web-based reference portal that provides government and industry experts with easy access to facilities and infrastructure-related guidance, criteria, training, and technology.
The newly published WBDG Corrosion Prevention & Control (CPC) Source “knowledge” pages address CPC issues and challenges related to facilities planning; sustainment, restoration, and modernization (SRM) and operations and maintenance (O&M); CPC competencies; CPC acquisition issues; facilities and infrastructure corrosion costs; and environmental severity classification. The pages address the scientific areas of cathodic protection, corrosion science, paint and coatings, pavements, and waterfront and coastal structures.
Over the next year, the WBDG CPC Source will be enhanced by eight new training modules, which will supplement five 15-30-minute training vignettes that are currently available on the WBDG site. The DoD Corrosion Office expects to post its first Cathodic Protection course using narration in December 2017. In addition, the Corrosion Office plans to publish narrated courses on Utilities, Waterfront and Coatings on WBDG.org by March 2018.
The new content and training are customized for facilities planners, designers, constructors, and maintainers, while supplementing the site’s other corrosion-related knowledge, codes, guidelines, criteria, best practices, and training material. J. Clay Dean, P.E., and Stephen Geusic, analysts in the DoD Corrosion Policy and Oversight Office, are overseeing the new content production.
Dean explained that “knowledge pages” are designed to provide a just-in-time focus on critical high-cost facilities areas. They provide short oversight and assistance for the designer and engineer who may need help on DoD projects and issues. “For those who design and construct DoD facilities and infrastructure, locating the proper CPC guidance can be very complicated,” he said.
DoD Corrosion Office Director Daniel Dunmire stated:
The incorporation of 10 new knowledge pages and eight multi-part training courses will greatly enhance the Whole Building Design Guide’s existing CPC Source. These additions will ensure that building experts at every level are prepared to make good design decisions that promote and sustain long building life.
The WBDG–Whole Building Design Guide Web site is available free to the building community with the support of the Department of Defense, the General Services Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, NASA, and the Department of Energy. The site also hosts more than 100 free online continuing education courses, including many from the Federal Energy Management Program.
The National Institute of Building Sciences, authorized by Congress in 1974, is a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization that brings together representatives of government, the professions, industry, labor and consumer interests to identify and resolve building process and facility performance problems. The Institute serves as an authoritative source of advice for both the private and public sectors with respect to the use of building science and technology.
