Pilot Demonstration of an Impact Evaluation Protocol: NIST NCST Recommendations Arising from The Station Nightclub Fire

Published

January 8, 2015

Author(s)

John R. Hall, Jr, Micheal Karter, Amanda Kimbell, Minchao Yin

Abstract

Under the authority of the National Construction Safety Team (NCST) Act, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) establishes a National Construction Safety Team to determine the likely technical cause(s) of building failures. These reports include recommendations, but there has been no systematic method available to evaluate the impact of these recommendations. A general protocol for conducting such evaluations cannot be created from scratch and still be detailed and validated enough to be useful for NIST’s purposes. Therefore, the Fire Protection Research Foundation and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) conducted an evaluation of the impact of recommendations from the NCST report on a single incident, to be documented and conducted in such a way that the specific evaluation will also form the basis for defining a general protocol. The Research Foundation expresses gratitude to the report authors Dr. John Hall, Michael Karter, Minchao Yin, and Amanda Kimball. The Research Foundation appreciates the guidance provided by the Project Technical Panelists, and all others that contributed to this research effort. Special thanks are expressed to NIST for sponsoring this study. The content, opinions and conclusions contained in this report are solely those of the authors.

Citation

Grant/Contract Reports (NISTGCR) -

NIST Pub Series

Grant/Contract Reports (NISTGCR)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Keywords

NCST recommendations, NIST recommendations, building code, The Station Nightclub fire

Citation

Hall, J. , Karter, M. , Kimbell, A. and Yin, M. (2015), Pilot Demonstration of an Impact Evaluation Protocol: NIST NCST Recommendations Arising from The Station Nightclub Fire, Grant/Contract Reports (NISTGCR), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD (Accessed October 10, 2025)