Posted by Heidi Schwartz
Emphasizing how essential America’s critical infrastructure is to national security and economic growth, President Barack Obama has proclaimed November to be Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month. In November and throughout the year, the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) will work on a number of projects that directly focus on achieving such goals.
Institute programs include:
The Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC)
A building industry association-based council, BSSC develops nationally applicable seismic design provisions through the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP) funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In addition, BSSC advocates practical NEHRP-based improvements to the nation’s model building codes.
The Integrated Resilient Design Program (IRDP)
The Institute established this program to focus on innovative approaches to the design, construction, and operation of buildings and infrastructures that are resilient to natural and man-made disasters. The IRDP has worked with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate’s High Performance Integrated Design Resilience program to develop tools and resources so users can integrate resilience to reduce the impact of disruptive events and the duration of their effects. These tools include the Owner’s Performance Requirements Tool and the Integrated Rapid Visual Screening Program.
The Multihazard Mitigation Council (MMC)
MMC advocates reducing the total losses associated with natural and other hazards by fostering and promoting consistent and improved multihazard risk mitigation strategies, guidelines, practices, and related efforts. The Council developed the well-known “Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves” study, which found that every $1 spent on mitigation saves society an average of $4.
The WBDG Whole Building Design Guide®
WBDG is a comprehensive, Internet-based portal to a wide range of federal and private sector, building-related guidance, criteria and technology. It creatively links information across traditional professional disciplines to encourage integrated thinking and a “whole building” performance approach. The WBDG includes a comprehensive library of over 12,000 design criteria, other construction documents and executable programs from federal and private organizations, including resources on risk management, and a whole section on safety and security as a design objective.
