The American National Standards Institute has made revisions to a few of its standards.

·         The Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, section 10.3.1.7 Construction Activity Pollution Prevention: Protection of Occupied Areas has been updated as follows.

“The construction documents shall identify operable windows, doors and air intake openings that serve occupied spaces, including those not associated with the building project, that are in the area of construction activity or within 35 feet (11 m) of the limits of construction activity. Such windows, doors and air intake openings that are under control of the owner shall be closed or other measures shall be taken to limit contaminant entry.

Management of the affected building(s) not under the control of the building project owner shall be notified, in writing, of planned construction activity and possible entry of contaminants into their building(s).”

·         The International Code Council (ICC)’s Standard for the Design and Construction of Storm Shelters  ICC 500-2013 edition, offers the following proposal in public comment draft #3.

The proposal, IS-STM18-11/12, in Section 301.1.1, would be modified as follows: “Where anchorage of door, window or shutter framing to the shelter structure is required by means other than those provided in the manufacturer’s details listing or installation instructions in accordance with Section 107, the alternate anchorage shall be designed for pull-out and shear and the anchor placement detailed in accordance with accepted engineering practice. The alternate anchorage details and calculations shall be provided as part of the Construction Documents.”

Another Proposal, IS-STM43-11/12, Section 803.1 Test Assembly would be modified as follows: “All parts of the test specimen shall be full size, using the same materials, details,methods of construction and methods of attachment as proposed for actual use. Testing of componentsconsisting of wall, roof, door, or window assemblies shall be allowed in lieu of testing entire shelters.

Except where failure of framing members may control the impact performance, wall and roof sections subjected to debris impact testing shall be a minimum of 4-feet (1219mm) wide by 4-feet (1219 mm) high unless dimensions of the actual assembly are less than these dimensions.”

“Doors, windows, and impact protective devices opening protective systems (shutters) are to be tested at the maximum and minimum size proposed listed for use. Operable doors or windows shall be tested for the conditions of swing and latching as specified for use of the product. The specimen shall consist of the entire assembled unit and shall, when practical, be mounted as it will be installed in a shelter, and shall contain all devices used to resist wind forces and windborne debris. When it is not practical to install for testing a door or window frame as it will be mounted in a shelter, then the unit or assembly shall be mounted in a test buck to connect the specimen to the test frame/stand/chamber. Details of the mounting shall be described in the test report.