|
special
investigation: safety
University addresses
building hazards
Cal State Long Beach
had several buildings on the California State University list
of potential seismic hazards before the Jan. 17, 1994 Northridge
earthquake, and it has dealt with many of these potential threats
in the past eight years, according to CSULB officials. But some
still remain at risk.
CSU's Seismic Review
Board compiled a list of 101 buildings requiring detailed
engineering assessment and possible retrofit in 1992 after
examining 1,364 major CSU facilities. 61.5 of the projects
have been completed and 15, upon further evaluation, contained
no life safety threat, according to the 2000 Seismic Review
Board annual report, leaving 24.5 still requiring attention.
CSULB has never
suffered structural damage from an earthquake, however it
has been active in preparing the buildings on campus to sustain
such an event, said Scott Charmack, associate vice president
of physical planning and development.
The goal is not
to prevent structures from suffering any damage from a disaster,
Charmack said.
"What we look
for is life safety, making sure that people are safe inside
those buildings if one should hit," he said.
Past earthquakes
have been learning experiences for the CSU system, but they
have not affected the system's methods of gauging the seismic
safety of buildings, according to a CSU official.
"The Northridge
earthquake didn't change the Seismic Review Board standards
at all," said Patrick Drohan, assistant vice chancellor
of capital planning, design and construction. "It just
gave us new conditions to deal with. CSU has had a seismic
program for a number of years, but we were active in seismic
safety before then."
Formed in 1992,
the CSU Seismic Review Board was a response to former Gov.
George Deukmejian's Executive Order D-86-90, which was issued
on Oct. 17, 1989, following the Loma Prieta Earthquake. The
order states that all facilities occupied by the state must
be evaluated for the ability to meet a seismic performance
level. An independent licensed structural engineer, according
to the order, must perform the evaluation.
Members of the
board are professionals not affiliated with the CSU system.
They are in charge of implementing the independent peer review
requirements of the trustee's seismic policy and advising
CSU on seismic structural engineering issues.
"Independent
peer reviews are done when projects are in the design phase,"
Drohan said. "The board meets periodically to discuss
a whole range of seismic issues including any changes in seismic
mapping."
The reviews "assure
project quality and provide a measure of additional assurance
regarding the performance and safety of the completed project,"
according to the CSU Seismic Policy. "They are not intended
to replace the design responsibilities of the engineer of
record."
Buildings are continually
added to the Board's list with "improved understanding
of seismic forces, code updates, discovery of unforeseen site
conditions, and the addition of new campuses," according
to the report. The most recent list is composed of 145 facilities,
80.5 of which have been completed, and 21 projects remaining
in addition to the 24.5 off the original list.
"Many of the
initial buildings have been retrofitted," Drohan said.
"The risk for injury is greater in some buildings added
to the list more recently, so they are a higher priority."
However, not meeting
some of the board's standards does not necessarily make the
buildings unsafe, Charmack said.
"Standards
set by the Seismic Review Board go beyond the current state
codes," he said. "They have to meet the state codes
at a minimum and in this case the board decided to go beyond."
CSULB buildings
on the current list include the Fine Arts Buildings, the Liberal
Arts Buildings 2,3,4, and Engineering 3.
"The MacIntosh
building was near the top of the list and it was retrofitted
in 1994," Charmack said. "The Fine Arts Buildings
were next and we're working on them now."
Other buildings
were much lower on the list, but all the buildings in the
system that were labeled as the highest risks have been taken
care of, he said.
"I'd like
to look into my crystal ball and give a date," he said.
"But the truth is that we would need another bond issue
and the state is not sure, given the energy crisis and also
with the possible softening of the economy, that it is ready
to do that. There are a lot of ‘ifs' in there."
When the Fine Arts
building renovation is complete the University Library and
Peterson Hall 2 and 3 are next up for repairs followed later
by the Liberal Arts Buildings. How far in the future the plans
for the Liberal Arts building are is unclear to Charmack.
On the initial
list, the MacIntosh Humanities Building ranked as one of the
most dangerous buildings in the entire CSU system. Completed
in May 1967, it stands as the tallest building at CSULB and
is home to many departments. It was retrofitted in 1994 shortly
after the Northridge earthquake. Also, the university parking
structure was retrofitted, pushing the opening back more than
a year in 1995, after the Cal State Northridge parking structure
collapsed during the '94 quake.
Fine Arts buildings
1 and 2, which opened in February 1954, are in the middle
of a renovation, which was scheduled for completion in August.
While the main goal of the renovation was to accommodate the
growing College of the Arts, there was seismic retrofitting,
asbestos removal and safety code compliance scheduled, Charmack
said.
However, the contracting
company, Dennis J. Amoroso Construction Inc., was found in
default for failing to meet contractual requirements in February
and was taken off the assignment, Charmack said.
"Unfortunately
the university will have to step in now," he said. "We're
not going to let the project sit any longer."
CSULB has been
in the process of dealing with other safety issues in the
last year, according to Charmack. The university is currently
working on a telecommunications upgrade, including the original
telephone room for the university, which is still the main
distribution frame in the basement of LA 3.
"First of
all it is in a basement," Charmack said. "If you
know anything about water, it seeks its lowest level of potential
energy, i.e., it flows downhill. The room has flooded a couple
of times and is also about a quarter of the size that it needs
to be."
Facilities management
plans to relocate that room, then build another small one
that will be 1,200 square feet and expand another, according
CSULB officials.
|
