Making skyscrapers safer

Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008 | 2:08 a.m.

There was a great deal of discussion following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center towers in New York City about whether skyscrapers could be made to better withstand terrorist acts. That task was taken up by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a federal agency whose construction and fire protection research often is adopted in building codes.

After researching the collapse of the twin towers, the agency in 2005 recommended that any new commercial skyscraper approximately 40 stories or higher be built with additional fireproofing and have three emergency stairwells instead of two. Another recommendation, also covering smaller office buildings, was to add glow-in-the-dark markings in stairwells as a precaution for when there is no light.

These recommendations were adopted last year by the International Code Council, whose building standards are the most widely used in the United States.

The New York Times reported Monday, though, that another federal agency has joined skyscraper landlords in their quest to have the code council rescind these recommendations. The argument by the landlords and by the General Services Administration, which manages federal property, is that the new standards cost too much to implement.

When the code council meets next week in Minneapolis to consider the challenge, we urge it to maintain the tougher provisions recommended by the Standards and Technology Institute. The council should err as much as possible on the side of safety. After the towers were destroyed, the public rightly began questioning the safety of tall buildings.

Fortunately, the World Trade Center towers’ stairwells did have glow-in-the-dark markings, which were credited with saving lives on 9/11. All tall buildings should have them.

As we approach the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks, it would be foolish to forget that skyscrapers are still inviting targets. That is something the code council cannot afford to ignore.