ATC-20

ATC-20 Building Safety Evaluation Forms and Placards

In 1989, with funding from the California Office of Emergency Services, California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Applied Technology Council (ATC) published the ATC-20 Procedures for Postearthquake Safety Evaluation of Buildings, and companion ATC-20-1 Field Manual: Postearthquake Safety Evaluation of Buildings, Second Edition (revised in early 2005). Written specifically for volunteer structural engineers and building inspectors, these reports include rapid and detailed evaluation procedures for evaluating earthquake-damaged buildings and posting them as INSPECTED (apparently safe, green placard), LIMITED ENTRY (yellow placard), or UNSAFE (red placard). In 1995, with funding from the National Science Foundation and the U. S. Geological Survey, ATC published the ATC-20-2 report, Addendum to the ATC-20 Postearthquake Building Safety Evaluation Procedures, which contains updates to the ATC-20 procedures, including a revised Rapid Evaluation Safety Assessment Form, a revised Detailed Evaluation Safety Assessment Form, and revised red, yellow (RESTRICTED USE) and green placards. In 1997, ATC published the ATC-20-3 report, Case Studies in Rapid Postearthquake Safety Evaluation of Buildings, which contains 53 in-depth case studies illustrated with photos and describing how buildings are inspected and evaluated for safety. The ATC-20-3 report has been designed as an instructional guide for rapid evaluation.

Available here are the revised versions of the ATC-20 Rapid and Detailed Evaluation safety assessment forms, the revised posting placards, and Appendix A: Guidance for Owners and Occupants of Damaged Buildings. The forms and placards have been made available here, primarily to facilitate their rapid dissemination in any emergency, but also for instructional purposes. Turkish language versions are also available.

pdf ATC 20-2 Rapid Evaluation Safety Assessment Form (revised, 2005)

pdf ATC 20-2 Detailed Evaluation Safety Assessment Form (revised, 2005)

pdf ATC-20 Fixed Equipment Checklist

ATC 20-2 Revised green INSPECTED placard

pdf ATC 20-2 Revised yellow RESTRICTED USE placard

pdf ATC 20-2 Revised yellow RESTRICTED USE placard with preprinted instructions

pdf ATC 20-2 Revised red UNSAFE placard

pdf ATC 20-2 Appendix A: Guidelines for Owners and Occupants of Damaged Buildings

Turkish Language Versions of Placards

pdf ATC 20-2 Revised green INSPECTED placard

pdf ATC 20-2 Revised yellow RESTRICTED USE placard

pdf ATC 20-2 Revised yellow RESTRICTED USE placard with preprinted instructions

pdf ATC 20-2 Revised red UNSAFE placard

acrobat click here to download Adobe Reader

Welcome to the ATC Team!

As a former Principal at Magnusson Klemencic Associates in Seattle, Mike comes to ATC with more than 30 years of structural engineering experience in new design, evaluation and retrofit of existing buildings, applied research, and codes and standards development. Mike’s design experience includes the landmark Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, and his research and development experience includes the FEMA 356 Prestandard and Commentary for the Seismic Rehabilitation of Buildings, FEMA P-2012 Assessing Seismic Performance of Buildings with Configuration Irregularities (ATC-123 Project), and NIST GCR 10-917-9 Applicability of Nonlinear Multiple-Degree-of-Freedom Modeling for Design (ATC-76-6 Project).

Mike also has extensive experience as an ATC consultant serving as a reviewer, a technical contributor, and Project Director on multiple ATC projects. We look forward to how Mike’s unique experiences as a successful team member will contribute to ATC projects in the future.

Retired from federal service as a Senior Geophysicist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Mike comes to ATC with more than 30 years of experience in hazard mitigation program management and policy development, post-disaster response and recovery, and problem-focused research and development in support of FEMA’s efforts under the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). He has led FEMA’s earthquake-related work with the International Code Council and has been involved with the development of national model codes and standards since 1984.

In his career at FEMA, Mike has led the development of countless major FEMA publications, including: FEMA 350 Recommended Seismic Design Criteria for New Steel Moment-Frame Buildings and its series of companion reports (ATC-41 Project series), FEMA P-58 Seismic Performance Assessment of Buildings, Methodology and Implementation (ATC-58 Project series), FEMA P-695 Quantification of Building Seismic Performance Factors (ATC-63 Project), FEMA P-2018 Seismic Evaluation of Older Concrete Buildings for Collapse Potential (ATC-78 Project), and FEMA P-2090/NIST SP-1254 Recommended Options for Improving the Built Environment for Post-Earthquake Reoccupancy and Functional Recovery Time (ATC-137 Project). With Mike’s extensive knowledge of federal government programs, and past collaboration with state and local agencies, hazard mitigation partners, and code development organizations, we look forward to how his unique experiences will help serve ATC’s client needs and objectives in the future.