ENFP 431 - Building Safety and the Law (3 credits)

Photo courtesy of Andrew Neviackas ('06) & Danielle Leikach ('06)

Prerequisites:

• None.

Textbooks:

• None.

Course Description:

• Responding to natural and manufactured building hazards requires a complex legal environment, including regulation and liability. Key topics include the use of model codes, administrative regulation, retrospective codes, federal preemption, arson, performance based codes, risk-based regulation, engineering malpractice, product liability and disaster investigation.

Course Objectives:

• This is a course in the interaction between the law and the safety of the built environment.
• The course examines the technical, social and cultural factors that are relevant to the legal decisions made in regulating building safety.

Topics Covered:

• The Legal Framework For Building Safety Regulation:
  • nature of the legal system.
  • Police powers and public safety.
• Regulatory Effectiveness Analysis:
  • turning public policy into a regulatory system.
  • determination of public policy legal structures.
  • technical tools.
  • administrative vs. legislative approaches.
  • optimization of response to risk.
• The Legal Structure Of Building Regulation:
  • The development of building regulatory systems.
  • the relationships among the various codes.
  • philosophical and other differences between among structures.
  • Precaution vs. Responsibility.
  • Permits vs. Inspections.
  • The concept of the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ).
• Adminstrative Adoption Of Codes And Standards.
• Code Development - The Technical Structure Of Codes:
  • The technical tools used in codes.
  • model codes, standards and test methods
  • acceptance of new technologies in the legal environment.
  • static and dynamic fire protection systems.
  • fire safety systems approach.
  • role of building, inhabitants, emergency personnel.
• The Engineer As Expert:
  • Building litigation and ethics.
  • Daubert and the concept of Expertise.
  • professionalism, the nature of expert knowledge, witness or decision maker, duty to the client, duty to the public.
  • ethical questions and designing for the problem or designing to the code.
• Federalism, States And Conflict Of Laws.
• Code Enforcement And Compliance.
• Retrospective Codes:
  • Applying New Codes To Existing Buildings: changes in technological knowledge; changes in public policy and regulatory control vs. constitutional taking.
• New Approaches To Safety Regulation: Mathematical modeling, risk analysis, performance based codes, fire scenarios.
• Political vs. technical decision making.
• Legal Aftermath Of Disasters: Criminal And Regulatory: Cause and origin of Disaster, root cause analysis; rebuilding after disaster; which code?
• Legal Aftermath Of Disasters: Liability: Civil liability, Negligence, products liability.
  Other Parts Of The Legal System That Impact On Buildings: The Anti-trust laws and their effect on codes. (Foam Plastic, Hydrolevel v. ASME) Rights and obligations of builder, landlord, tenant, consumer Fire retarded plywood; Architectural barriers, Americans with Disabilities act, OSHA.

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