The standards specify design practices associated with a diverse array of building elements including sprinklers, exit signage, structural steel and concrete, windows and many more. These codes, produced primarily by the nonprofit International Code Council (ICC), incorporate existing consensus building standards developed by professional organizations with expertise in a particular relevant field.
Model codes aim to safeguard occupants from dangerous conditions by specifying fire safety and evacuation requirements as well as the level of wind, rain, hail or other hazards that buildings should withstand.
Instead, they start with common draft language - called a model code - the requirements of which they may tighten or loosen, tailoring the code to their state, county or city’s needs. Lawmakers and government officials in most jurisdictions do not build their codes from scratch. In the U.S., building codes mostly fall under the purview of state and local governments. What Is a Building Code, Exactly?īuilding codes are laws that set minimum requirements for how structural systems, plumbing, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), natural gas systems and other aspects of residential and commercial buildings should be designed and constructed. In addition to calling for enhanced codes and standards based on technical findings, NIST experts, along with many others, work to turn these recommendations into actionable codes. Then, government and industry organizations take action through established processes to etch those lessons into codes.Īs an agency that has studied and investigated building failures for more than 50 years and wields legislative authority to get to the bottom of disasters, NIST plays a key role in updating codes.
The short answer: When buildings fail to keep their occupants safe or even come close to failing during a catastrophic event - natural, human-caused or a mix of both - organizations step up to study what caused the failure. But what triggered these updates? And how are decisions made about what to change? have been improved to better protect people from harm. Over the last century, building codes and standards in the U.S.
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