How To Comply With NYC Local Law 26
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.
Among the retroactive requirements are installation of additional egress signage, power sources for exit signs and photoluminescent markers all within two to three years of the passage of the law. Installation of sprinklers is required by July 1, 2019, the date of the final report for compliance. NYC 26 applies to all buildings in the city that are in excess of 100 feet tall.
People occupying the floors of the twin towers below where the planes crashed into the buildings were able to evacuate much faster than those located on the floors above the impact zone. Where the planes hit, they severed the pipes supplying the sprinkler systems. This was a major that hampered the evacuation of occupants on the higher floors before the buildings collapsed.
Efforts to exit the building were further hampered by the occupants' inability to find their way to the fire exits. This is why NYC 26 mandates improvements to signage, adding photoluminescent markings and powered exit signs. The architectural firm in charge of rebuilding the World Trade Center, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), is in the process of developing a system that will permit occupants to make limited use of elevators in the event of an evacuation from the higher floors.
These innovative, elevator-assisted fire evacuation systems are controversial, to say the least. Trying to convince a work force that has been inculcated since elementary school to avoid using elevators in an emergency situation that this is safe will be an uphill struggle. The world will be watching high-rise structures such as the Burj Kalifa in Dubai, where such as system has recently been implemented. Similar thinking is also being considered for a skyscraper in South Korea.
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.
The world will never be 100% risk-free. Measures incorporated into new skyscrapers to make them safer from similar attack as those that occurred on September 11, 2001, may compromise safety from other unknown deadly threats that may be lurking in the future. Architects, governments and emergency services are cooperating to make people feel safer at work in new high-rise structures.
Among the retroactive requirements are installation of additional egress signage, power sources for exit signs and photoluminescent markers all within two to three years of the passage of the law. Installation of sprinklers is required by July 1, 2019, the date of the final report for compliance. NYC 26 applies to all buildings in the city that are in excess of 100 feet tall.
People occupying the floors of the twin towers below where the planes crashed into the buildings were able to evacuate much faster than those located on the floors above the impact zone. Where the planes hit, they severed the pipes supplying the sprinkler systems. This was a major that hampered the evacuation of occupants on the higher floors before the buildings collapsed.
Efforts to exit the building were further hampered by the occupants' inability to find their way to the fire exits. This is why NYC 26 mandates improvements to signage, adding photoluminescent markings and powered exit signs. The architectural firm in charge of rebuilding the World Trade Center, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), is in the process of developing a system that will permit occupants to make limited use of elevators in the event of an evacuation from the higher floors.
These innovative, elevator-assisted fire evacuation systems are controversial, to say the least. Trying to convince a work force that has been inculcated since elementary school to avoid using elevators in an emergency situation that this is safe will be an uphill struggle. The world will be watching high-rise structures such as the Burj Kalifa in Dubai, where such as system has recently been implemented. Similar thinking is also being considered for a skyscraper in South Korea.
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.
The world will never be 100% risk-free. Measures incorporated into new skyscrapers to make them safer from similar attack as those that occurred on September 11, 2001, may compromise safety from other unknown deadly threats that may be lurking in the future. Architects, governments and emergency services are cooperating to make people feel safer at work in new high-rise structures.
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