RRBegin
Structural
- Jul 31, 2001
- 38
Is anyone familiar with the evolution of the wording (see below) which exempts certain existing buildings from seismic evaluation requirements?
The 2002 version of "Standards of Seismic Safety for Existing Federally Owned and Leased Buildings" (more commonly known as ICSSC RP 6), Section 1.3 exemption d. exempts "agricultural and storage structures that are intended only for human occupancy or that are occupied by persons for a total of less than two hours a day". As written this exemption is limited to two occupancy classes. The previous version of this exemption, contained in the standard's predecessor, RP4, exempted "buildings classified for agricultural use, or intended only for incidental human occupancy, or occupied by persons for a total of less than 2 hours a day". This wording does not limit the occupancy class of the buildign. Other, more recent references that I have checked list only "agricultural storage structures...", which limits the occupancy class to one.
These subtle differences are significant, and I want to know if the RP4 to RP6 change was intentional or accidental. (I manage a program with an inventory of over 7000 buildings, so the difference has serious financial implications). It seems to me that the intent is to exclude buildings with limited occupancy, but this is not what the current wording of the exemption states.
While I am asking about the RP6 standard, other current codes contain similar exemptions based, in part, on NEHRP recommendations. Any insight will be appreciated.
The 2002 version of "Standards of Seismic Safety for Existing Federally Owned and Leased Buildings" (more commonly known as ICSSC RP 6), Section 1.3 exemption d. exempts "agricultural and storage structures that are intended only for human occupancy or that are occupied by persons for a total of less than two hours a day". As written this exemption is limited to two occupancy classes. The previous version of this exemption, contained in the standard's predecessor, RP4, exempted "buildings classified for agricultural use, or intended only for incidental human occupancy, or occupied by persons for a total of less than 2 hours a day". This wording does not limit the occupancy class of the buildign. Other, more recent references that I have checked list only "agricultural storage structures...", which limits the occupancy class to one.
These subtle differences are significant, and I want to know if the RP4 to RP6 change was intentional or accidental. (I manage a program with an inventory of over 7000 buildings, so the difference has serious financial implications). It seems to me that the intent is to exclude buildings with limited occupancy, but this is not what the current wording of the exemption states.
While I am asking about the RP6 standard, other current codes contain similar exemptions based, in part, on NEHRP recommendations. Any insight will be appreciated.
