New York City local law 26 was adopted by the City Council Committee on Housing and Buildings in 2004 with the intention of making high-rise buildings safer in the wake of the tragic events that occurred in September 2011. In order to comply with NYC local law 26, both retroactive and prospective safety requirements must be met. Lessons have been learned about designing buildings that won't collapse. Other lessons have focused on how to make it easier for occupants to evacuate buildings in an emergency.
Many of these new regulations involve improving signage leading to fire exits, independent power supplies for signs indicating where the fire exits are located and phospholuminescent markers of safety exits. These provisions were to have been implemented within two or three years following the announcement of NYC 26. Other measures, involving improved sprinkler systems, are to be in place no later than July 1, 2019.
As the 9/11 incident was unfolding, those occupants of the Twin Towers who were in the lower floors, below the floors that were impacted by the planes, had a high rate of survival due to the comparative ease with which they were evacuated. One of the findings that led to NYC 26 was that the planes had severed the pipes to the sprinkler systems.
Evacuation of the higher levels was further hampered by difficulties in finding the fire exits. This is the reasoning behind new mandates for luminescent markers or exit routes, power supplies for exit signs and increased signage indicating where the exits are located. A team of architects for the firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, in charge of designing the re-build of the World Trade Center, is in the process of developing state-of-the-art evacuation systems that incorporate the use of elevators.
Elevator-assisted evacuation is currently in place at the Burj Kalife in Dubai. At 168 storeys, this is currently the tallest skyscraper in the world. A similar system is being proposed for a new, 108-floor structure in South Korea. Stepping into an elevator, even one that is clearly designated as fire-safe, goes completely against the grain for people who have been trained throughout their working careers to take the stairs in the event of a fire. Building tenants will need to be completely re-educated in buildings where this pioneering system is implemented.
High-rise designers in America are also learning lessons from their international counterparts. One strategy borrowed from the British, who have been using it for years, is incorporating separate staircases for firefighters. Wider staircases are also being designed to make evacuation easier and faster.
Of course, New York is not the only city that is learning lessons from 9/11 and working to make skyscrapers safer for occupants. As if California doesn't have enough to worry about designing high-rise buildings that can withstand the dreaded massive earthquake, Los Angeles has also been taking another look at safety and security.
It is impossible to make every building 100 percent safe. Efforts to protect buildings and tenants safer in the event of a fire may well be counterproductive in the event of whatever unseen disasters lurk around the corner. All we can do is continue to learn and develop new ways of making people feel safer in skyscrapers.
Many of these new regulations involve improving signage leading to fire exits, independent power supplies for signs indicating where the fire exits are located and phospholuminescent markers of safety exits. These provisions were to have been implemented within two or three years following the announcement of NYC 26. Other measures, involving improved sprinkler systems, are to be in place no later than July 1, 2019.
As the 9/11 incident was unfolding, those occupants of the Twin Towers who were in the lower floors, below the floors that were impacted by the planes, had a high rate of survival due to the comparative ease with which they were evacuated. One of the findings that led to NYC 26 was that the planes had severed the pipes to the sprinkler systems.
Evacuation of the higher levels was further hampered by difficulties in finding the fire exits. This is the reasoning behind new mandates for luminescent markers or exit routes, power supplies for exit signs and increased signage indicating where the exits are located. A team of architects for the firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, in charge of designing the re-build of the World Trade Center, is in the process of developing state-of-the-art evacuation systems that incorporate the use of elevators.
Elevator-assisted evacuation is currently in place at the Burj Kalife in Dubai. At 168 storeys, this is currently the tallest skyscraper in the world. A similar system is being proposed for a new, 108-floor structure in South Korea. Stepping into an elevator, even one that is clearly designated as fire-safe, goes completely against the grain for people who have been trained throughout their working careers to take the stairs in the event of a fire. Building tenants will need to be completely re-educated in buildings where this pioneering system is implemented.
High-rise designers in America are also learning lessons from their international counterparts. One strategy borrowed from the British, who have been using it for years, is incorporating separate staircases for firefighters. Wider staircases are also being designed to make evacuation easier and faster.
Of course, New York is not the only city that is learning lessons from 9/11 and working to make skyscrapers safer for occupants. As if California doesn't have enough to worry about designing high-rise buildings that can withstand the dreaded massive earthquake, Los Angeles has also been taking another look at safety and security.
It is impossible to make every building 100 percent safe. Efforts to protect buildings and tenants safer in the event of a fire may well be counterproductive in the event of whatever unseen disasters lurk around the corner. All we can do is continue to learn and develop new ways of making people feel safer in skyscrapers.
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