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Building on Ground Zero

Classroom Activity

Print this Teacher's Guide (PDF, 10 pages)

Activity Summary
Students research safety feature and building code changes that were recommended in response to major disasters, including fire, hurricanes, and terrorist acts.

Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:

understand how knowledge gained from disasters has influenced changes in safety features and building codes.
describe how codes have been used to try to prevent future loss of property or lives.

copy of the "Learning from Disasters" student handout (PDF or HTML)
copy of the "Proposed Changes" student handout (PDF or HTML)

copy of the "Evaluation Card" student handout (PDF or HTML)

Background
When a disaster involving a human-made structure occurs, an investigation is launched to determine what happened. The investigating team examines the condition of the building prior to the disaster, the structural integrity of the building, how the event progressed, how the fire and safety features and procedures functioned, the evacuation system, how the building's occupants behaved, and the activities of emergency responders. In this activity, students research disasters through the eyes of an investigative team and argue before a panel of judges for the adoption of safety features or building codes that would be applied locally, regionally, or nationally.

In the first part of the activity, students work in teams to locate information on six disasters that led to code revisions. They look specifically for how each disaster may have impacted recommendations for safety features or building codes for the area.

In the second part of the activity, students select two suggested safety feature or building code revisions and argue before a panel of peer evaluators for the adoption of the selected features or codes. Student judges will vote to implement or reject the features or codes based on the strength of the presented arguments.

Ask students what types of events qualify as major disasters. Do students think a disaster occurring today might have a lower loss of life than a similar disaster occurring in the early 1900s? Why or why not?
Organize students into teams and distribute the "Learning from Disasters" and "Proposed Changes" student handouts. Explain that each team will collect data on six disasters that resulted in proposed changes to existing safety features or building codes.
To help students identify types of data to collect, create a class list of elements designed to help prevent human loss during an emergency. These elements may include type of construction materials (and their level of flammability), fire alarms, smoke alarms, sprinklers, number and location of exits, and evacuation plans.
Have students collect data outside of class over a one- to two-week period. (Some Web sites for research are recommended in the Activity Answer.) After they have concluded their research, assign or have students choose two specific safety features or building code changes they would like to recommend for a building or buildings found locally, regionally, or nationally (such as office buildings, hotels, hospitals, movie theaters, stadiums, airports, and residential homes).
When students have gathered their information, have them present their recommendations to the class. Provide each student with a copy of the "Evaluation Card" student handout. Have all students list each team being evaluated on a separate sheet of paper and use the criteria on the "Evaluation Card" handout to rate each proposed change.
All students who are not presenting should evaluate the presenting team. After each team has been evaluated, poll the students to see how many think the proposed changes should be adopted and how many do not. Following each evaluation, ask the class to provide feedback on the stronger and weaker points of the arguments.
To conclude the lesson, discuss what students learned. Ask students to consider the different types of buildings in their own communities. What kind of safety features and building codes should apply to the different kinds of buildings found in their area?
As an extension, have half the class prepare an argument that every building should be built for a worst-case scenario, such as the impact of a jet airliner. Have the other half of the class argue the counterpoint.

Each disaster listed led to specific safety feature or code recommendations, several of which were similar and not all of which were adopted. Students will generally argue for adoption based on the lives or property that might have been spared had the feature or code been in place and enforced. Arguments against will range from cost to the statistical probability of a similar event. A brief summary of each event and some of the resulting proposed changes are listed below.

Date: November 28, 1942
Event: Cocoanut Grove Night Club Fire
Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Cocoanut Grove was a fine dinner, music, and dance club. One evening, a fire swiftly engulfed the club, killing 492 people and injuring 166 others. This, the deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history, led to a nationwide reform of fire codes and safety features.

When a fire began in a decorative palm tree, patrons panicked and tried to escape through the one revolving door entrance. The door became jammed with people and would not operate (the club's maximum capacity had been exceeded by hundreds). Exit points were limited: a plate glass window was boarded up, side doors were welded shut, and the few remaining exits that did operate opened inward, reducing the evacuation rate. Flammable decorations made it difficult for people to see the exit signs.

The cause of the fire was not determined. While the club had passed inspection shortly before the fire, many violations had been overlooked. The electrician who wired the club was not licensed.

Safety recommendations included:

banning flammable decoration in Massachusetts public facilities (nightclubs).
requiring that all fire exit doors open outward.
calling for owners to not lock or block any fire exit door.
installing always-visible exit signs.
flanking revolving doors by at least one normal outward-opening door.
calling for a review of the way maximum capacity is determined and enforced.

The Cocoanut Grove Inferno
www.boston.com/news/daily/21/archives_cocoanut_112292.htm
Features a retrospective article on the fire 50 years later.

Date: May 28, 1977
Event: Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire
Location: Southgate, Kentucky

One hundred and sixty-five people died and more than 200 were injured, making this the third deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history. Faulty old aluminum wiring was blamed as the cause. No one noticed the fire until the blaze was beyond control. The building had flammable decorations, no audible fire alarms, no sprinkler system, and no fire doors.

Safety recommendations included:

increasing the number of available exits and requiring lighted signs on all exits.
outlawing unsafe aluminum wiring in locations where it is not already prohibited.
requiring that all older nightclubs install sprinkler systems.
tightening restrictions on nightclubs regarding the use of flammable decorations and materials that might give off toxic fumes when burned.
requiring fire doors on stairways at each level of the building.
requiring audible fire alarms in all public buildings.
revamping the way state government agencies supervise code enforcement.

The Beverly Hills Fire: Tragedy Rooted in Code Violations
www.enquirer.com/beverlyhills/chronology.html
Chronicles the history of the supper club, including information about the fire.

The Beverly Hills Tragedy
www.cincypost.com/bhfire
Supplies a time line of the fire and factors that contributed to the high number of deaths.

Date: August 16-29, 1992
Event: Hurricane Andrew
Location: South Florida

This hurricane battered South Florida in late summer of 1992. Damage estimates of $25 billion made it the third-most expensive disaster in U.S. history. About 65 people died and 250,000 people were left homeless. Advance warnings prompted evacuations for southern Florida, the Florida Keys, Louisiana, and eastern Texas. Winds reached almost 300 kilometers per hour before the hurricane made landfall on the Florida coast. Officials credited the low number of deaths to advance warning and evacuations.

Safety recommendations included:

requiring that carpenters supplement the nails holding roofs to walls with metal clips.
sheathing new buildings entirely in plywood (not just the lightweight foam insulation previously used) before siding is put on.
using more roofing nails and gluing down corner shingles.
making slight revisions to the regional evacuation plan.
using more impact-resistant glass and installing bolts around windows to enable homeowners to more easily install precut plywood over windows during storms.

New Building Code Brings Cost, Confusion
www.sptimes.com/2002/webspecials02/andrew/day2/story1.shtml
Relates information about building codes that address foundations and roofs.

Post Andrew Summit Raises Call for Tougher Standards
hurricane.lsu.edu/_in_the_news/june_02_naples.htm
Includes information about codes related to wind damage.

Date: September 11, 2001
Event: World Trade Center Attack
Location: New York City

Hijackers flew two commercial airliners into each of the two 110-story WTC towers. More than 2,700 people died from the attacks, including more than 400 emergency responders. Nearby buildings also suffered extensive damage when the two towers collapsed.

The high-speed aircraft inflicted considerable damage on the structural components of both towers. The towers probably would have remained standing had the aircraft not dislodged fireproofing elements; the lost thermal insulation allowed heat from fires to weaken structural components and lead to collapse.

Safety recommendations included:

improving fire protection of structural members.
providing backup sprinkler systems (sprinklers, standpipes, and hoses).
providing backup systems for fire alarms and smoke management.
improving shielding materials for elevators.
considering the use of impact-resistant materials around stairwells.
widening stairwells and increasing distance between exit stairways throughout the building.
improving evacuation systems.
upgrading emergency communication systems.

Building Standards and Codes: Who Is in Charge?
wtc.nist.gov/pubs/Recommendations.pdf
Provides the National Institute of Technology and Standards' suggestions for the way buildings are designed, constructed, maintained, and used as well as for evacuation and emergency response procedures following the WTC attack.

FEMA Executive Summary
www.fema.gov/pdf/library/fema403_execsum.pdf
Summarizes events that occurred at the WTC and explores whether building codes should be changed to make future buildings more resistant to attacks.

Date: February 20, 2003
Event: The Station Nightclub Fire
Location: West Warwick, Rhode Island

Ninety-eight people died and more than 180 were injured in the fourth deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history. The band on stage at the time, Great White, lit its own pyrotechnics without a required city permit, which set off flammable soundproofing installed behind the stage. There were no fire extinguishers on stage. Sprinklers were not installed (or required) at the time. The total number of people may have exceeded maximum capacity. When the fire began, panic caused a stampede to the door. Though the exits had signs that were lit, people couldn't see them because of thick smoke. The club had recently passed inspection after correcting minor violations.

Safety recommendations included:

installing sprinkler systems in all new and existing nightclubs.
tightening restrictions on the use of flammable decorations and soundproofing materials and pyrotechnics.
increasing evacuation rates by changing the maximum capacity of the main exit to accommodate at least two-thirds of the maximum-allowed occupants.
eliminating the practice of letting older nightclubs out of meeting newer code requirements.
requiring redundancy in fire protection systems.
increasing the number of portable fire extinguishers in nightclubs.
increasing fire inspection and code enforcement for new and existing nightclubs.
conducting research to better understand how people behave during emergencies.

At Least 96 Killed in Nightclub Inferno
www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/02/21/deadly.nightclub.fire
Describes the nightclub fire and outlines reasons for the high number of deaths.

NIST Rhode Island Nightclub Fire Investigation Team Calls for Improvements
www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/mar_3_05_ribriefing.htm
Reports on safety recommendations issued after the nightclub fire.

Date: August 29, 2005
Event: Hurricane Katrina
Location: Gulf Coast

Hurricane Katrina made landfall as a Category 4 storm. The 362-kilometer-per-hour winds produced a six-meter storm surge that topped or destroyed the levee and flood wall system protecting the city. Death tolls vary but current figures are about 1,800. Damage from the storm could be $75 billion or more.

Safety recommendations included:

implementing and enforcing the International Building and Residential Codes wind and flood provisions that require homes and businesses built along the Gulf Coast to withstand winds of 210 to 240 kilometers per hour.
installing metal strapping from a building's foundation to its rooftop to hold each roof in place.
building most new multifamily dwellings, such as condominiums, over a parking garage.
reinforcing corners of structures with double-nailed shingles and installing impact-resistant windows with a plastic interlayer to prevent shattering.
adopting codes similar to Dade County, Florida (neither Mississippi nor Louisiana had uniform state building codes).
considering redrawing the floodplain maps to increase the elevation for homes from 4 meters above the likely flood level to 5.5 to 7.5 meters.

Rebuilding a Culture of Safety on the Gulf Coast
www.iccsafe.org/news/bsj/0406_rebuilding.pdf
Reports on the types of damage caused by Katrina and includes information on the importance of strict building code requirements.

Residential Wind Damage in Hurricane Katrina
www.hurricane.lsu.edu/files/katrinafinal.pdf
Discusses how effective four building improvements—opening protection, straps/clips, upgraded roof deck, and secondary waterproofing—would have been had they been in place when Katrina hit. In this report, the four improvements are called "mitigating options."

Web Sites

NOVA—Building on Ground Zero
www.pbs.org/nova/wtc
Learn why the towers were innovative and what led to their collapse, read one survivor's story, outfit a firefighter, explore the atomic structure of metal, and more.

Engineering Practice
www.onlineethics.org/eng/index.html
Contains cases, discussions, and ethical guidelines bearing on the professional responsibilities of engineers.

Cities and Buildings Database
content.lib.washington.edu/buildingsweb/index.html
Offers a searchable collection of images of buildings worldwide.

SkyscraperPage
www.skyscraperpage.com/diagrams
Provides diagrams of skyscrapers and a searchable diagram and statistics database of skyscrapers worldwide.

Books

The Art of Construction
by Mario Salvadori. Chicago Review Press, 1990.
Explains how structures are built and describes how to build models using common materials.

Spiderwebs to Skyscrapers: The Science of Structures
by David Darling. Dillon Press, 1991.
Includes hands-on activities that explore foundations, materials, arches, and structures.

The Visual Dictionary of Buildings
by Fiona Courtenay-Thompson and Roger Tritton. Dorling Kindersley, 1993.
Provides structural details of buildings from many locations in the world.

Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail
by Matthys Levy and Mario Salvadori. W.W. Norton & Company, 2002.
Uses case studies to illustrate why structures like buildings, bridges, and dams have sometimes failed.

The "Learning from Disasters" activity aligns with the following National Science Education Standards (see books.nap.edu/html/nses).

Grades 5-8
Science Standard F
Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
Personal health
Risks and benefits

Grades 9-12
Science Standard F
Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
Personal and community health

Mathematics Standard
Statistics

Classroom Activity Author

A teacher for 25 years, Shannon C'de Baca teaches and serves as a consultant for national and state agencies working to improve science teaching. Her teaching practices have been recognized with national awards from the Milken Family Foundation and the National Science Teachers Association.