NIST Provides Updates on National Construction Safety Team Activities

NCST Insider | feat. Scott Jones

On Sept. 23 and 24, 2026, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) convened a two-day meeting of the National Construction Safety Team (NCST) Advisory Committee. NIST provided updates on the progress of its NCST investigations into the 2021 partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South building and the impacts of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico in 2017, as well as updates on NIST’s Disaster and Failure Studies Program and implementation of recommendations that resulted from its investigation into the tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri, in 2011.

The presentations highlighted the importance of NIST applying its own expertise and the expertise of others through collaborations and contracts, as well as the extensive data collection, testing, modeling and more that goes into each investigation.

The committee members commended NIST’s teams on their work on the active investigations and their efforts to see previous recommendations implemented. Remarking on the Hurricane Maria investigation, Randall Poston, the newest committee member, noted how “integrating the social sciences, the epidemiological, the health and the financial aspects was … key to understanding the impact of this storm.” He also applauded the team for reaching out to other federal agencies to support the Champlain Towers South investigation and noted the positive impact of those efforts.

The committee meeting agenda includes links to all presentations.

Champlain Towers South

In her remarks, investigation co-lead Judith Mitrani-Reiser noted the extensive coordination that ensured that search and rescue operations were not interrupted by efforts to preserve potential evidence. Additionally, access to the evidence was carefully coordinated with the Miami-Dade Police Department so that the respective investigations could proceed independently and without interfering with one another.

This was the first NCST Advisory Committee meeting since the Champlain Towers South investigation team released its technical findings in June 2026. Mitrani-Reiser highlighted eyewitness accounts of building issues in the weeks, days and hours before the partial collapse that support the technical findings. Investigation co-lead Glenn Bell walked the committee members through the team’s findings and potential topics for its recommendations, including quality and design of construction; code enforcement and records retention policies; and building inspections.

The team continues to work with industry experts and the building code communities who can take action to implement the recommended changes to codes, standards and practices. This outreach has included listening to subject matter experts from across the U.S. and conducting interviews with officials, inspectors, contractors and other specialists to better understand current condition assessment and code enforcement practices in different localities, ranging from small municipalities to large cities.

Today NIST has released two new NCST Insider videos featuring Jonathan Weigand, co-lead of the building and code history project, and Scott Jones, co-lead of the materials science project.

NCST Insider | feat. Jonathan Weigand

Hurricane Maria

Team Lead Joe Main and Associate Lead Maria Dillard provided an update of the Hurricane Maria investigation, including their first presentation to the committee of the team’s draft principal findings. The findings fall into the following categories: preparedness, hazard exposure, infrastructure, building performance, mortality and recovery.

In the area of preparedness, Dillard said that the investigation found that pre-storm communications from the National Hurricane Center and others contributed to broad public understanding of the approaching hazard, and that most residents did take protective measures before the storm. Surveys conducted as part of the investigation revealed that residents would like more specific information on the expected performance of buildings and infrastructure in windstorms, including homes, healthcare facilities, schools and utilities.

When discussing the team’s building performance findings, Main noted that while most hospital and school buildings experienced minimal structural damage during the hurricane, they suffered from extensive water intrusion due to damage to building enclosures, including roof coverings, windows, doors and roof-mounted equipment.

Committee Vice Chair Donald Dusenberry remarked on the “complicated, comprehensive” investigation and broad scope of useful data and information collected that will provide “huge lessons learned” for the region and beyond.

Joplin Tornado

The NCST Act requires that NIST not only conduct investigations when appropriate but also work with code and standards organizations to implement its final recommendations. Research wind engineer Marc Levitan, team lead of the Joplin Tornado investigation, gave the committee an overview of successful improvements to codes, standards and practices based on recommendations from the investigation into the devastating 2011 Joplin tornado.