re: Real bad condo collapse in Surfside, FL

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A team of scientists and engineers from an obscure federal agency that investigated the fall of the Twin Towers after 9/11 arrived Friday at the site of the partially collapsed residential tower in Surfside. Their goal: to decide whether to launch a full investigation into the catastrophe, and then to begin the painstaking process of determining what went wrong.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology, a little-known sub-agency of the Department of Commerce, investigates disasters that result in — or had the potential to result in — “substantial loss of life,” according to spokeswoman Jennifer Huergo. It does so with an eye toward recommending changes to building codes, standards and practices that will ensure that similar disasters never happen again.

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The agency’s approach is modeled after that of the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates transportation-related accidents — such as the collapse of the pedestrian bridge at Florida International University in 2018 that resulted in six deaths.

Another federal agency that investigated the FIU bridge collapse — the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, which focuses on workplace issues — was also in Surfside Friday gathering information on the collapse and deciding whether it qualifies as an OSHA case.

The investigation process can take years to complete.

“We’ll do it as long as it takes,” said Huergo, noting that 200 people were involved in the NIST investigation of the World Trade Center attacks. “It’s very early days.”

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