CONGRESSIONAL HEARING - INVESTIGATION OF WORLD TRADE CENTER

[Andrew Johnson]

Anyone hear about this? (Not searched myself yet - been busy)

http://www.house.gov/science/press/109/109-145.htm

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House Science Committee tomorrow will hold a hearing on the key findings and recommendations of the government’s investigation into the collapse of the World Trade Center.

Witnesses representing the building and fire code community will testify on their plans to implement the recommendations contained in the report. The hearing will also examine the barriers that exist to the development and adoption of stronger building and fire codes.

The federal investigation was conducted by the National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST). A draft version of the investigation report was released in September and the final version will be released soon. NIST Director, William Jeffrey, will testify at the hearing.

The hearing will address the following overarching questions:

What are the most important findings and recommendations of the World Trade Center Investigation report?
Are the NIST recommendations framed appropriately so that they can be adopted into national model building codes?
What are the prospects for the adoption of the recommendations by the code organizations? What is 3NIST doing to promote this process? What are the possible impediments to their adoption?
What lessons were learned from this investigation that could be applied to improve future investigations of building failures?
Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Full Committee on Science – Hearing
The Investigation of the World Trade Center Collapse: Findings, Recommendations and Next Steps
11:00a.m – 1:00p.m.
2318 Rayburn House Office Building (WEBCAST)

Witness List:

Panel 1:

· Ms. Sally Regenhard, Skyscraper Safety Campaign (SSC), New York, NY. The SSC represents families and survivors of the WTC disaster and supports stronger codes and practices for buildings and first responders.
Panel 2:

Dr. William Jeffrey, Director, NIST.
Ms. Nancy McNabb, Director of Government Affairs, National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). NFPA standards were extensively referenced in the NIST recommendations on the WTC collapse. NFPA has also created a model building code, NFPA 5000.
Dr. James R. Harris, P.E., Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). ASCE standards were extensively referenced in the NIST recommendations on the WTC collapse.
Mr. Henry L. Green, President, International Code Council (ICC). The ICC is an association of state and local code officials, building mangers, and other parties that collectively maintain the International Building Code, the most widely-used model building code.
Mr. Glenn Corbett, Assistant Professor of Fire Science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and a member of NIST’s National Construction Safety Team Advisory Board.