The Advancement of Performance-Based Design (APBD) Committee has received approval to begin development of performance-based prestandards for seismic and fire hazards. The new efforts build on the committee's ongoing work to develop a performance-based flood prestandard and reflect continued interest in advancing risk-informed approaches to structural design.
At the same time, SEI's Fire Protection Committee is developing two new publications focused on resilience and hazard mitigation: Bridge Fire Safety: Pathways for Practice and The Resilience of the Built Environment to Wildfires: A U.S. Hazards Mitigation Perspective. Together, the projects address bridge fire hazards, post-fire evaluation, wildfire resilience, and opportunities to strengthen engineering practice in these emerging areas.
The APBD Committee's work represents an important step toward expanding performance-based design guidance across multiple hazards affecting the built environment. By advancing prestandards for flood, seismic, and fire hazards, the committee is helping establish a broader framework for evaluating structural performance under defined hazard conditions and performance objectives.
The Fire Protection Committee's efforts similarly support SEI's commitment to advancing resilience across the profession. Through its examination of bridge fire safety and wildfire hazards, the committee is working to identify gaps in current practice and help lay the foundation for future guidance and resources for structural engineers.