Program Name Seismic Design Criteria of
Non-Structural Systems for New and Existing School Facilities
Administering Agency Salt Lake City School District
Contact Gregg Smith, P.E., Director, Buildings and Grounds
Address 440 East 100 South, Rm 207, Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Telephone Number 801-578-8218
Fax Number 801-578-8415
E-mail gregg.smith@slc.k12.ut.us
Beginning in 1989, the
Salt Lake City School District Board of Education recognized the need to
improve the seismic safety of District schools. Since then, the Board of
Education has twice appealed to the voters of Salt Lake City for bond
authorizations totaling $206 million. Combined with an additional $200
million in capital monies and overwhelming voter support, the Board has
embarked on an accelerated plan to rebuild or retrofit all thirty eight
District schools over a fifteen year period to a higher seismic standard
than was required by prevailing building codes.
The Salt Lake City School District's Seismic Design Criteria of
Non-Structural Systems for New and Existing School Facilities was
developed in response to the realization that much of damage and
subsequent loss resulting from a seismic event is caused by the
non-structural elements associated with a facility. This fact is well
known and has been addressed numerous times through the efforts of many
agencies. However, a review of this information and commonly accepted
practices revealed that most design practitioners do not have readily
available information that would allow them to provide mitigation
solutions for the non-structural elements found in most projects. While
much of the currently available information adequately identifies various
non-structural hazards it fails to provide the necessary engineering
details required to actually implement a comprehensive mitigation
solution. The Salt Lake City School District recognized this fact and
determined a better approach was needed.
During this time many school districts were applying for funds to
implement capital improvements for mitigation projects from the Federal
Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Project Impact program. The Salt Lake
City School District, however, decided to apply for funding for the
development of the District's proposed Seismic Design Criteria of
Non-Structural Systems since this approach was perceived to have a greater
long term benefit and even more so since the District was currently
involved in rebuilding or retrofitting all of its facilities. Under the
direction of Mr. Gregg Smith, P.E., Director of Buildings and Grounds, the
District was successful in soliciting $40,000 in grants from both FEMA and
FEMA's Project Impact program. Mr. Smith then contracted with ABS
Consulting, formerly known as EQE International, to develop the Seismic
Design Criteria of Non-Structural Systems documentation. The focus of the
effort was to create a document which would aid architects and consulting
engineers during the design process and provide them with viable seismic
mitigation solutions that could be incorporated directly into their
drawings and construction documents. The scope of work required the
consultant (EQE) to first survey select facilities to determine the range
and variation in non-structural elements that posed a hazard during a
seismic event and then develop possible mitigation solutions to address
these hazards including standardized details complete with calculations
where appropriate that met or exceeded any applicable code or standard
requirement.
The result of this development effort was the District's Seismic Design
Criteria of Non-Structural Systems for New and Existing School Facilities.
This document is distributed on CD-ROM to members of the District's
various design teams for each new or remodel project with the expectation
that every effort will be made to voluntarily incorporate as many as
possible of the seismic design guidelines into the respective construction
documents.
