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Building codes a safety legacy
By JONATHAN LANSNER
Business Columnist
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
March 23, 2013
Building codes a safety legacy | building, codes, safety - Business - The Orange County Register
jlansner@ocregister.com
Construction is back. And that leads to the inevitable debate about the cost and logic of building codes.
Yes, imperfect regulations exist. It's a certainty that many construction rules add to the cost of ownership or rental housing or for structures that house businesses. In fact, a new state law requires regulators to ponder the cost of new building codes
But please don't tell me that public safety costs are an overwhelming burden or that oversight of building planning, construction and maintenance is something that is best left to the pressures of the marketplace.
It was 102 years ago on Monday that a New York high-rise garment shop quickly turned into a killer inferno. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire killed 146 people that day -- including my great aunt, Fannie Lansner. Newspaper accounts and court records show that the 21-year-old shop steward was a heroine who helped her coworkers to safety. That selfless action likely resulted in her being trapped in the flames, leading her to jump to her death.
The Triangle Fire and other industrial horrors of the early 20th Century proved a need for better understanding of how emergency exits could be utilized to get occupants of burning buildings -- especially high rises -- out to safety quickly.
The Triangle Factory -- located on the 8th through 10th floors of a New York high-rise -- was jammed with sewing equipment and had limited exits, making escape difficult. The unthinkable disaster, which drew global attention to building safety, led to relatively revolutionary changes in the regulation of building design, construction and operations.
Bob Wible, a Virginia construction consultant who's worked with both builders and regulators, says building codes are far better today that they were a half century, or century, ago. His big issue, in the current era of tight local government budgets, "It all comes down how you enforce it ... We face potential problems if we have adequate staff to enforce what is on the books."
To be fair, a good chunk of the science of fire safety has been motivated by private-sector forces. In the 19th Century, insurance companies -- tired of paying for seemingly needless factory fires -- instituted fire prevention efforts to charge lower premiums for industrial facilities that posed lesser risks.
The well-known Underwriters Laboratories -- the"UL" symbol of electrical safety -- emerged from insurer fears about the use of a fast-growing breakthrough of the late 1800's: electricity.
Various building disasters -- notably theater fires -- launched studies into what flammable material can do to amplify an indoor fire. Changes in construction techniques and additional building codes limit that risk today.
The science of building safety is ever-evolving with fresh lessons about building construction and first-responder communications harshly learned from the Twin Tower terrorist attacks in 2001.
Fire marshals and lawmakers have had to adapt building codes to expanded use of green design and energy -- writing rules for solar-power generation, for example.
Each major earthquake or hurricane can lead to building design -- and building code -- breakthroughs. It took the Katrina disaster to get Louisiana to impose statewide construction laws.
Newly proposed modifications to California's building codes target, among other items, a new style of advertising campaign that drapes buildings in printed, plastic graphics. Fire officials hope that such displays will use fire-resistant material and won't cover existing safety or ventilation installations.
But it's certain that building codes -- like any regulation -- won't prevent stupidity.
A sad anniversary recently passed. Ten years ago, a Rhode Island night club owners' decision to install improper flammable insulation combined with a bone-headed decision by a band to use unregulated pyrotechnics indoors. The resulting fire killed 100.
"We're always going to be learning something," consultant Wible says. "Even when it's a man-made disaster."
I was astonished to read recently about a debate in Lafayette County, Miss. In this relatively robust region, lawmakers are pondering their first set of building codes. Wible laughed at my naïveté, telling me as much as 10 percent of the nation has no building codes.
In Lafayette County, local media coverage notes that new arrivals from other parts of the nation -- no less, bankers who want to lend against local properties -- want some assurances that the structures are sound.
Hopefully, the sad legacy of my Great Aunt Fannie and countless others will help keep people safe.
Contact the writer: 949-777-6727 or jlansner@ocregister.com
By JONATHAN LANSNER
Business Columnist
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
March 23, 2013
Building codes a safety legacy | building, codes, safety - Business - The Orange County Register
jlansner@ocregister.com
Construction is back. And that leads to the inevitable debate about the cost and logic of building codes.
Yes, imperfect regulations exist. It's a certainty that many construction rules add to the cost of ownership or rental housing or for structures that house businesses. In fact, a new state law requires regulators to ponder the cost of new building codes
But please don't tell me that public safety costs are an overwhelming burden or that oversight of building planning, construction and maintenance is something that is best left to the pressures of the marketplace.
It was 102 years ago on Monday that a New York high-rise garment shop quickly turned into a killer inferno. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire killed 146 people that day -- including my great aunt, Fannie Lansner. Newspaper accounts and court records show that the 21-year-old shop steward was a heroine who helped her coworkers to safety. That selfless action likely resulted in her being trapped in the flames, leading her to jump to her death.
The Triangle Fire and other industrial horrors of the early 20th Century proved a need for better understanding of how emergency exits could be utilized to get occupants of burning buildings -- especially high rises -- out to safety quickly.
The Triangle Factory -- located on the 8th through 10th floors of a New York high-rise -- was jammed with sewing equipment and had limited exits, making escape difficult. The unthinkable disaster, which drew global attention to building safety, led to relatively revolutionary changes in the regulation of building design, construction and operations.
Bob Wible, a Virginia construction consultant who's worked with both builders and regulators, says building codes are far better today that they were a half century, or century, ago. His big issue, in the current era of tight local government budgets, "It all comes down how you enforce it ... We face potential problems if we have adequate staff to enforce what is on the books."
To be fair, a good chunk of the science of fire safety has been motivated by private-sector forces. In the 19th Century, insurance companies -- tired of paying for seemingly needless factory fires -- instituted fire prevention efforts to charge lower premiums for industrial facilities that posed lesser risks.
The well-known Underwriters Laboratories -- the"UL" symbol of electrical safety -- emerged from insurer fears about the use of a fast-growing breakthrough of the late 1800's: electricity.
Various building disasters -- notably theater fires -- launched studies into what flammable material can do to amplify an indoor fire. Changes in construction techniques and additional building codes limit that risk today.
The science of building safety is ever-evolving with fresh lessons about building construction and first-responder communications harshly learned from the Twin Tower terrorist attacks in 2001.
Fire marshals and lawmakers have had to adapt building codes to expanded use of green design and energy -- writing rules for solar-power generation, for example.
Each major earthquake or hurricane can lead to building design -- and building code -- breakthroughs. It took the Katrina disaster to get Louisiana to impose statewide construction laws.
Newly proposed modifications to California's building codes target, among other items, a new style of advertising campaign that drapes buildings in printed, plastic graphics. Fire officials hope that such displays will use fire-resistant material and won't cover existing safety or ventilation installations.
But it's certain that building codes -- like any regulation -- won't prevent stupidity.
A sad anniversary recently passed. Ten years ago, a Rhode Island night club owners' decision to install improper flammable insulation combined with a bone-headed decision by a band to use unregulated pyrotechnics indoors. The resulting fire killed 100.
"We're always going to be learning something," consultant Wible says. "Even when it's a man-made disaster."
I was astonished to read recently about a debate in Lafayette County, Miss. In this relatively robust region, lawmakers are pondering their first set of building codes. Wible laughed at my naïveté, telling me as much as 10 percent of the nation has no building codes.
In Lafayette County, local media coverage notes that new arrivals from other parts of the nation -- no less, bankers who want to lend against local properties -- want some assurances that the structures are sound.
Hopefully, the sad legacy of my Great Aunt Fannie and countless others will help keep people safe.
Contact the writer: 949-777-6727 or jlansner@ocregister.com
