ATC-45 Field Manual: Safety Evaluation of Buildings after Windstorms and Floods

The Applied Technology Council (ATC) is pleased to announce the immediate availability of the ATC-45 Field Manual: Safety Evaluation of Buildings after Windstorms and Floods. Funded by the Applied Technology Council, the ATC Endowment Fund, and the Institute for Business and Home Safety, this 132-page report provides guidelines and procedures for conducting postwindstorm and postflood building safety evaluations. The purpose of these evaluations is to determine whether damaged or potentially damaged buildings are safe for use, or if entry should be restricted or prohibited.

The ATC-45 Field Manual is intended to be used by building officials, building inspectors, engineers, and others involved in postdisaster safety evaluation of building types commonly found in the United States. The Field Manual explains three different building safety evaluation procedures. Two of the procedures (Rapid Evaluation and Detailed Evaluation) are discussed in detail. For each of these procedures, the document provides guidance on where to look for damage.

The Field Manual gives advice on evaluating structural, geotechnical, and nonstructural risks, and advice on how to rate the safety significance of certain types of damage. In addition, the Manual covers related topics of interest to safety personnel, including (a) how to deal with owners and occupants of damaged buildings; and (b) field safety issues. Evaluation forms and posting placards, represented in the document in small-scale size, can be downloaded free of charge below.

The Field Manual is patterned after the concepts developed in two earlier ATC projects: (1) the ATC-20 project, whereby ATC developed the well-known and widely used ATC-20 report, Procedures for Postearthquake Safety Evaluation of Buildings; companion ATC-20-1 Field Manual, and ATC-20-2 Addendum, which contains updated evaluation forms and placards; and (2) the ATC-26 project, whereby ATC developed several sets of procedures for postdisaster safety evaluation of U. S. Postal Service (USPS) facilities, including procedures for safety evaluation of USPS facilities after windstorms and floods.

The ATC-45 Field Manual has been printed in an easy-to-use, pocket-sized format. The document can be obtained from the Applied Technology Council, 201 Redwood Shores Parkway, Suite 240, Redwood City, California 94065 (phone, 650/595-1542; fax, 650/593-2320; e-mail, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). Price: $27.00 per copy (plus shipping and sales tax). [ATC-45 is not available in electronic/PDF format.]

ATC-45 may also be ordered in the Applied Technology Council Online Store.

The following are available for immediate download in PDF format:

pdf ATC-45 Rapid Evaluation Safety Assessment Form

pdf ATC-45 Detailed Evaluation Safety Assessment Form

pdf ATC-45 Fixed Equipment Checklist

pdf ATC-45 UNSAFE Posting Placard (print on red cardstock)

pdf ATC-45 RESTRICTED USE Posting Placard (print on yellow cardstock)

pdf Alternate ATC-45 RESTRICTED USE Posting Placard with preprinted instructions (print on yellow cardstock)

pdf ATC-45 INSPECTED Posting Placard (print on green cardstock)

pdf ATC-45 Appendix E: Guidelines for Owners and Occupants of Damaged Buildings

acrobat click here to download Adobe Reader

Welcome to the ATC Team!

Michael Valley

As a former Principal at Magnusson Klemencic Associates in Seattle, Mike Valley 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.

Michael Mahoney

Retired from federal service as a Senior Geophysicist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Mike Mahoney 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.