New Codes Create Demand for Life Safety Products
By Kurt Roeper
IR Security & Safety

CINCINNATI--August 25, 2004

Traditionally, the door and hardware industry’s life safety efforts have been focused on preventing losses from fire. Now, two code-driven opportunities are creating demand for new categories of products. Together, the expansion of hurricane codes and a growing demand for tornado shelters point toward big opportunities for new business.

The combined economic loss from fire and severe storms during a recent six-year period approached $100 billion. According to the NFPA, economic losses caused by fires exceeded $68 billion during this period, while the losses from tornado and hurricane damage totaled almost $28 billion (see Figure 1), or nearly a third of the total.

If you don’t live in a prime area for tornados or hurricanes, it may be easy to conclude that they are regional issues. While that may be true, the "region" is larger than you might suspect. Every state, without exception, has been hit by at least one tornado. A map (Figure 2) that locates where the most severe storms occur also shows that these areas are close to major population centers. The dark red areas highlight the most severe areas for tornados, encompassing Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit, Dallas, St. Louis, Nashville, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Indianapolis to name a few. The regions most susceptible to hurricanes include Houston, New Orleans, Tallahassee, Tampa, Miami, Washington, DC and New York City. The “regional” problem of hurricanes takes on a much larger importance when you consider that 50% of the population of the United States now lives within 50 miles of the coast.

Two Product Classes for Two Types of Storm

Meeting the needs of fire and life safety codes has been one of the key growth factors in the door and hardware business for many years. The new opportunities that exist in the area of Severe Storm Openings are an extension of this focus and can be divided into openings for hurricane and tornado shelters. Each requires a separate approach to provide protection from the storm.

A tornado gives relatively little warning. The National Weather Service today has an average warning time of 20 minutes. While this is significantly longer than in years past, the relatively short advance warning makes the best opportunity for protection within the structure presently occupied or one in close proximity. The advent of storm shelter construction now gives many people the ability to seek refuge from the storm in a rated shelter that will remain intact, even if the rest of the building is partially or completely destroyed.

In contrast, hurricanes are easier to predict, with warnings coming as much as three days before an area is impacted. With this advance notice, life safety is primarily ensured through evacuation, while hurricane-rated products protect the structures.

Hurricane Andrew did $26.5 billion in damage to Florida and Louisiana in 1992, but it also sparked a call for codes to force the building of structures that could resist these forces of nature. As a result, South Florida, and in particular Miami-Dade County, promulgated the test protocols that are in place today. Then, in 1999, a destructive supercell spawned the F4 and F5 tornados that hit Oklahoma City, becoming the catalyst for the current standards and testing protocols for tornado shelter products.

Tornado Shelter Guidelines and Tests

All severe storms carry the danger of damaging winds, but tornadoes probably have the most potential for destruction, due to their changing pressures and violent travel. Wind loading shear in a tornado is a major cause of damage, but more complex combinations of forces are also generated. In addition to severe winds, the extremely high positive and negative pressures can pick up and carry debris with enough force to penetrate windows, doors, walls and other parts of a building. Entire buildings can collapse in an instant, so people require more than a simple shelter to survive a tornado.

Because of this, the demand for tornado shelters is growing. In Wichita, Kansas, requirements for storm shelters were included in recent educational levies. Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska are among a number of cities considering making safe rooms mandatory in any construction of publicly funded buildings.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in conjunction with the Wind Engineering Research Center at Texas Tech University, created two documents that provide guidance on tornado shelters. FEMA 320, Taking Shelter from the Storm, is a prescriptive guideline for the construction of residential storm shelters that contains a wealth of information on storm-resistant construction. FEMA 361 is a blend of prescriptive and performance-based guidelines for community shelters, which will be helpful to architects working on institutional structures. Further information is available at the FEMA website, www.fema.gov.

The structures covered by FEMA 320 are intended to provide emergency refuge from a tornado within interior spaces that have everyday uses, such as closets or laundry rooms. Since the walls, floors and ceilings typically are reinforced concrete construction, the door opening becomes the most critical component of the system.

Texas Tech has developed testing capabilities that position the University as the recognized authority in testing tornado-rated building components. For doors and hardware, this includes a pressure test and a missile impact test that must be completed to meet the FEMA guidelines. FEMA 320 covers residential applications, while FEMA 361 is for non-residential applications.

What does it take for a product to pass these tests? Obviously an opening system that can withstand severe weather has to be stronger than a standard product. It may have other special features as well. For example, one door system that was developed to meet the requirements of FEMA 361 for tornado resistance includes features such as special lock edge reinforcement and internal stiffeners that resist crushing and bending.

Funding Tornado Protection

Although it costs more to build in accordance with the FEMA guidelines, FEMA provides money through hazard mitigation to help offset the higher cost. Following a Presidential Disaster Declaration, funds are available through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program to prevent the loss of life and property from future events.

Funds are awarded to a state agency, which determines the mitigation priorities and type of projects to fund. However, these funds are not required to be used in the specific geographic area that was affected or for the specific hazard that resulted in the disaster declaration. For instance, the state agency could earmark funds from a flood to construct tornado shelters for schools. Applicants submit proposed projects to FEMA for review and approval. If acceptable, FEMA will approve funding for the eligible components of the project. Typically the Federal government provides 75% of the costs, while state and local governments provide the balance.

In addition to the money available through FEMA, there is also a bill now pending in Congress, HR 2020. This bill is aimed at reducing the impact of hurricanes, tornadoes and related hazards through a program of research, development and technology transfer. Also known as the “Hurricane, Tornado, and Related Hazards Research Act,” it defines the government’s role in gathering windstorm data and developing a National Windstorm and Related Hazard Impact Reduction Program. Its goal is a measurable reduction, within 10 years, of losses that would otherwise have occurred to life and property from windstorms and related hazards. The bill calls for appropriations of $25 million for fiscal 2004, $590 million for 2005, and $100 million for 2006.

Beyond the FEMA hazard mitigation grants and the potential of $700 million in funding from HR 2020, there are additional reasons to consider the opportunities in severe weather openings. The International Code Council has convened a subcommittee to draft standards for the construction of hurricane and tornado shelters. With the eventual reference of these standards in subsequent editions of the International Building Code (IBC), these shelters will become even more common than now and will be built in more areas than they are today.

Hurricane Resistant Openings

Hurricane codes began with the Dade County Protocols, which were developed to protect against the higher incidence of hurricane-type storms in Florida. They were among the first calls for impact resistance in products for openings. Although there were some earlier code provisions, building inspectors had tended to concentrate more on windows, which typically fail first in a hurricane or high wind storm. Stronger building codes were adopted in several counties of southeastern Florida in the 1990s, mainly in response to the damages caused by Hurricane Andrew. Recently, the Florida Building Code was amended to adopt similar requirements throughout the state. As the success of this approach expands, other nearby Gulf States that are affected by hurricanes also are likely to consider similar codes.

The Florida code calls for a combination of impact, static load pressure and cyclical pressure based on the Dade County Protocols. The tests include a wind-blown debris test, a uniform static pressure (or structural) test, and a cyclic pressure loading test that duplicates the buffeting effects of a hurricane.

Code requirements will vary from one area to another. The code defines a "hurricane prone region" as one that can expect winds in excess of 90 miles per hour. In Florida, the lowest wind speed in the state is 100 miles per hour, so the entire state is considered hurricane-prone. Windborne debris regions are defined by either maximum wind speed or proximity to the coast. Any zone with wind speeds of 120 miles per hour or above (or 110 miles per hour if within one mile of the coast) is automatically considered to be a windborne debris region. However, the panhandle of the state has been granted some exceptions from the blanket wind speed criteria, referred to as the Panhandle Protection Provisions.

Where higher classifications of products must be used, they have to be tested in accordance with all three test protocols. If debris impact is not required, then products require testing and certification only to the structural load requirements, up to a maximum wind speed of 110 miles per hour.

Opportunities Grow from Code-Driven Demand

These variables illustrate the importance of knowing the applicable code requirements for each project location. Code developments will continue to drive the demand for new products. With the supply of Federal funds available to subsidize construction using these products, it is important to become knowledgeable in the codes. To capitalize on the opportunities, it also is necessary to develop the contacts within your market that will help you understand where the funding priorities are set and who controls the money at the local level.

Wherever your business is located, severe weather protection is a great marketing opportunity—a chance to grow your business that you shouldn’t pass up. These are high-dollar openings. They are highly engineered, so they require a commitment to a level of technical expertise, but it’s no more difficult than the other issues in our industry. If you are willing to meet these needs on the ground floor and help bring these products to the marketplace, you’ll find it is truly a great opportunity.