New Earthquake Hazard Guidelines issued

Building owners do not need to push tenants out of earthquake-prone buildings, but should instead allow time for them to make alternative arrangements, according to the new guidelines.

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Officials were quick to follow the new guidelines after controversy in Wellington over whether and when to evacuate a major tower at Hutt Hospital and the Department of Education headquarters in Wellington.

The Seismic Hazard Guidelines for Buildings report said that if a building owner determines that seismic risk is unacceptable, they should allow a reasonable time to evacuate the building “unless there is an immediate danger to users from issues other than the earthquake.”

“The guidelines address and make clear that there is no legal requirement to close a building based solely on a low NBS (New Building Standard) rating,” the Department for Business, Innovation and Employment said.

“Most earthquake-prone buildings are not imminent hazards and can remain occupied while seismic repair work is being planned, financed, and carried out.”

The report noted that there are a number of ways to mitigate risks, such as having a contingency plan, educating employees, and removing hazardous materials or other hazards.

To date, 4,200 earthquake-prone buildings have been identified across the country.

Earthquake-prone is an official classification for buildings with less than 34 percent of the new building standards, which vary according to the earthquake risk in the area and the nature of the building — such that, for example, dam operating halls or hospitals in Wellington face much higher standards than a two-story townhouse in Wangari.

The ministry said there were “some common misconceptions about how the new building standard should be used”.

Building Performance and Engineering Director Dr. Dave Gling told RNZ it was critical that landlords and tenants not focus on the lower New Building Standards (NBS) scores.

“The guidelines actually define the questions to ask of the people who have to make these really tough decisions, and allow to understand, critically, not only what NBS is, but what NBS isn’t, so I think it’s a really good guideline.”

He said asking the right questions to engineers would help building owners and charter company boards.

People should take into account that major earthquakes were “low probability”.

According to other department guidelines, an earthquake-prone building is 10 to 25 times, or more likely, to fail in a major earthquake compared to a 100 percent NBS building.

But Gates pointed out that this equates to the risk of dying in a major earthquake of one in a million to 25 in a million – a much lower risk than what workers face on their daily commute.

The key thing, he said, is to determine how the weakest parts of the building can fail and how to address that.

The guidelines provide a list of examples, including a city multi-storey central office building occupied by workers eight hours a day, where precast concrete floors can be rated at only 30 percent of NBS.

In this case, she said, moving offices away from the high-risk areas in the corners of the building might work.

By contrast, a warehouse in a small town with only 15 percent prefabricated panels, could have heavy storage in places where panels might fall, thus not falling on people.

“It’s an assessment of the risks and what the issues are for the building,” Gates said.

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