In an ideal world, every tunnel, train terminal, and critical building would be built like a fortress to withstand any emergency. But in the real world, construction costs matter and engineers "build to code." While Americans can take comfort that their critical infrastructure meets minimum codes for safety, when terror—or nature—hits especially hard, minimum codes provide minimal comfort.
Now, thanks to researchers at DHS S&T, communities can fortify today's critical structures—and design tomorrow's—to absorb blows and remain open if assaulted by extreme earth, wind, water, fire, or man.
A new publication series, aimed at engineers, architects, building owners, city planners, and emergency managers, makes available years of government, industry, and academic research on designs and materials to make buildings and tunnels terror-resistant and terror-resilient. The Building and Infrastructure Protection Series (BIPS) provides architects and engineers a set of aids for designing critical infrastructure to withstand all kinds of hazards…at a cost that won't break the budget.
"This series lays the foundation for designing a new generation of resilient buildings," says Mila Kennett, who oversees the series in S&T's Infrastructure Protection and Disaster Management Division, where she leads the Structural Resilience Branch. An architect by training, Kennett came from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), where she edited a similar publication series after 9/11. Several of the BIPS guides expand upon and update her highly regarded FEMA guides.
The BIPS series comprises seven documents, four software applications, one website, and one training course:
The BIPS software applications and OPR website will be demonstrated February 1st in an S&T webinar: Cutting Edge Risk and Resiliency Tools.
Launched over the last three years, the BIPS books, applications, and training course have been embraced by the Transportation Security Administration, other federal agencies, the New York City Police Department, state and local governments, and the private sector.
To learn more about the DHS S&T's Building Infrastructure Protection Series, contact BIPS@dhs.gov or visit http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/scitech-bips-tools.shtm .
Join the DHS S&T team in a Webinar on February 8th. Download the flyer, http://www.wbdg.org/news/events.php?e=Cal_137 , and register here: https://connect.hsin.gov/cutting_edge_tools/event/registration.html .