Building Codes

Building Codes:
A building code (also building control or building regulations) is a set of rules that specify the
standards for constructed objects such as buildings and nonbuilding structures. Buildings must
conform to the code to obtain planning permission, usually from a local council. The main purpose
of building codes is to protect public health, safety and general welfare as they relate to the
construction and occupancy of buildings and structures. The building code becomes law of a
particular jurisdiction when formally enacted by the appropriate governmental or private authority.
Building codes are generally intended to be applied by architects, engineers, interior designers,
constructors and regulators but are also used for various purposes by safety inspectors,
environmental scientists, real estate developers, subcontractors, manufacturers of building
products and materials, insurance companies, facility managers, tenants, and others. Codes
regulate the design and construction of structures where adopted into law.
Followings are Some Specifications:

AISC-American Institute of Steel Construction

AISI-American Iron and Steel Institute
AWS-American Welding Society
AASHTO-American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials
AREA-American Railway Engineering Association
ASTM-American Society for Testing and Materials
ASCE-American Society of Civil Engineering
B.S. Code-Steel Designers Manual

AISC-American Institute of Steel Construction:

The American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) is a not-for-profit technical institute and
trade association for the use of structural steel in the construction industry of the United States.
AISC publishes the AISC 360 Specification for Structural Steel Buildings, an authoritive volume
on steel building structure design that is referenced in all U.S. building codes.

AISI-American Iron and Steel Institute:

The SAE steel grades system is a standard alloy numbering system for steel grades maintained by
SAE International.
In the 1930s and 1940s, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and SAE were both involved
in efforts to standardize such a numbering system for steels. These efforts were similar and
overlapped significantly. For several decades the systems were united into a joint system
designated the AISI/SAE steel grades. In 1995 the AISI turned over future maintenance of the
system to SAE because the AISI never wrote any of the specifications.
Today steel quotes and certifications commonly make reference to both SAE and AISI, not always
with precise differentiation. For example, in the alloy/grade field, a cert might say "4140", "AISI
4140", or "SAE 4140", and in most light-industrial applications any of the above is accepted as
adequate, and considered equivalent, for the job at hand, as long as the specific specification called
out by the designer (for example, "4140 bar per ASTM-A108" or "4140 bar per AMS 6349") is
certified to on the certificate. The alloy number is simply a general classifier, whereas it is the
specification itself that narrows down the steel to a very specific standard.
The SAE steel grade system's correspondence to other alloy numbering systems, such as the
ASTM-SAE unified numbering system (UNS), can be seen in cross-referencing tables (including
the ones given below).

AWS-American Welding Society:

The American Welding Society (AWS) publishes specifications for a wide variety of welding
filler metals. These specifications are a series of rules and standards used by the welding industry
to classify welding electrodes.

The A5 group of specifications provides requirements for:

Electrode classification including mechanical properties and the composition of the weld
metal or the filler metal itself.
Electrode sizes and identification
Manufacturer's identification and packaging

AASHTO-American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials:

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is a

standards setting body which publishes specifications, test protocols and guidelines which are used
in highway design and construction throughout the United States. Despite its name, the association
represents not only highways but air, rail, water, and public transportation as well.
Although AASHTO sets transportation standards and policy for the United States as a whole,
AASHTO is not an agency of the federal government; rather it is an organization of the states
themselves. Policies of AASHTO are not federal laws or policies, but rather are ways to coordinate
state laws and policies in the field of transportation.
Purpose:
The American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) was founded on December 12,
1914. Its name was changed to American Association of State Highway and Transportation
Officials on November 13, 1973. The name change reflects a broadened scope to cover all modes
of transportation, although most of its activities are still specific to highways.
While AASHTO is not a government body, it does possess quasi-governmental powers in the sense
that the organizations that supply its members customarily obey most AASHTO decisions.
Publications:
Some noteworthy AASHTO publications are:
 A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets, often called "The Green Book"
because of the color of its cover. This book covers the functional design of roads and
highways including such things as the layout of intersections, horizontal curves and
vertical curves.
Standard Specifications for Transportation Materials and Methods of Sampling and
Testing.
AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications. This manual is the base bridge design
manual that all DOTs use across the US.
Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH), crash testing criteria for safety hardware
devices for use on highways; it updates and replaces NCHRP Report 350.
In addition to its publications, AASHTO performs or cooperates in research projects. One such
project is the AASHTO Road Test, which is a primary source of data used when considering
transport policies and the structural design of roads. Much of AASHTO's current research is
performed by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) which is
administered by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Research Council.
AASHTO resource, formerly the AASHTO Materials Reference Laboratory (AMRL), accredits
laboratories. Accreditation is often required to submit test results to state DOTs. For example, a
contract for the construction of a highway bridge may require a minimum compressive strength
for the concrete used. The contract will specify AASHTO Test Designation T 22, "Compressive
Strength of Cylindrical Concrete Specimens," as the means of determining compressive strength.
The laboratory performing T 22 will be required to be accredited in that test.

AREA-American Railway Engineering Association:

The American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) is a
North American railway industry group. It publishes recommended practices for the design,
construction and maintenance of railway infrastructure, which are requirements in the United
States and Canada.
History:
AREMA was established on October 1, 1997, by the merger of three engineering support
associations:

the American Railway Bridge and Building Association

the Roadmasters and Maintenance of Way Association
the Communications and Signal Division of the Association of American Railroads
Each of these organizations have devoted over 100 years of service to the rail industry to AREMA.
American Railway Bridge and Building Association:
Formed in 1891 in St. Louis, Missouri, as the American International Association of Railway
Superintendents of Bridges and Buildings, the Association initially represented 40 railroads. The
name was changed in 1907 to the American Railway Bridge and Building Association. The group
provided a forum to exchange information and create solutions to problems that confront the
railway industry.
Communications and Signal Division of the Association of American Railroads:
In 1885, the Association of Telegraph and Telephone Superintendents was formed by the telegraph
superintendents of the major railroads. In 1895, the Railway Signaling Club was organized at a
meeting in Chicago, Illinois, and created a code of rules governing the operation of interlockings.
In 1919, the Signaling Club became the Signal Division of the newly created American Railway
Association (ARA) and the Telegraph Superintendents became its Telegraph and Telephone
Section. The ARA became the Association of American Railroads (AAR) in 1934; the Signal
Division was renamed the Signal Section and the Telegraph and Telephone was renamed the
Communications Section. The two sections merged in 1961 to become the Communications and
Signal Division of the AAR, which has now been merged into AREMA.

ASTM-American Society for Testing and Materials:

ASTM International, formerly known as American Society for Testing and Materials, is an
international standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical
standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, and services. Some 12,575 ASTM
voluntary consensus standards operate globally. The organization's headquarters is in West
Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, about 5 mi (8.0 km) northwest of Philadelphia.
Founded in 1898 as the American Section of the International Association for Testing Materials,
ASTM International predates other standards organizations such as the BSI (1901), IEC (1906),
DIN (1917), ANSI (1918), AFNOR (1926), and ISO (1947).
History:
A group of scientists and engineers, led by Charles Dudley, formed ASTM in 1898 to address the
frequent rail breaks affecting the fast-growing railroad industry. The group developed a standard
for the steel used to fabricate rails. Originally called the "American Society for Testing Materials"
in 1902, it became the "American Society for Testing and Materials" in 1961 before it changed its
name to “ASTM International” in 2001 and added the tagline "Standards Worldwide". In 2014, it
changed the tagline to "Helping our World Work better". Now, ASTM International has offices in
Belgium, Canada, China, Peru, and Washington, D.C.
Standards Compliance:
ASTM International has no role in requiring or enforcing compliance with its standards. The
standards, however, may become mandatory when referenced by an external contract, corporation,
or government.

In the United States, ASTM standards have been adopted, by incorporation or by reference,
in many federal, state, and municipal government regulations. The National Technology
Transfer and Advancement Act, passed in 1995, requires the federal government to use
privately developed consensus standards whenever possible. The Act reflects what had
long been recommended as best practice within the federal government.
Other governments (local and worldwide) also have referenced ASTM standards.
Corporations doing international business may choose to reference an ASTM standard.
All toys sold in the United States must meet the safety requirements of ASTM F963,
Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Toy Safety, as part of the Consumer Product
 Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). The law makes the ASTM F963 standard a
mandatory requirement for toys while the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
studies the standard's effectiveness and issues final consumer guidelines for toy safety.

ASCE-American Society of Civil Engineering:

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is a tax-exempt professional body founded in
1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. Headquartered in
Reston, Virginia, it is the oldest national engineering society in the United States. Its constitution
was based on the older Boston Society of Civil Engineers from 1848.
ASCE is dedicated to the advancement of the science and profession of civil engineering and the
enhancement of human welfare through the activities of society members. It has about 152,000
members in about 177 countries. Its mission is to provide essential value to members, their careers,
partners, and the public; facilitate the advancement of technology; encourage and provide the tools
for lifelong learning; promote professionalism and the profession; develop and support civil
engineers.
History:
The first serious and documented attempts to organize civil engineers as a professional society in
the newly created United States were in the early 19th century. In 1828, John Kilbourn of Ohio,
managed a short-lived "Civil Engineering Journal", editorializing about the recent incorporation
of the Institution of Civil Engineers in Great Britain that same year, Kilbourn suggested that the
American corps of engineers could constitute an American society of civil engineers. Later, in
1834, an American trade periodical, the "American Railroad Journal" advocated for similar
national organization of civil engineers.
The American Society of Civil Engineers and Architects:
During the 1840s, professional organizations continued to develop and organize in the United
States. The organizers motives were largely to "improve common standards, foster research, and
disseminate knowledge through meetings and publications." Unlike earlier associations such as
the American Philosophical Society, these newer associations were not seeking to limit
membership as much as pursue "more specialized interests." Examples of this surge in new
professional organizations in America were the American Statistical Association (1839),
American Ethnological Society (1842), American Medical Association (1847), American
Association for the Advancement of Science, (1848) and National Education Association (1852).
During this same period of association incorporations on the 1840s, attempts were again made at
organizing an American engineer association. They succeeded at first with the Boston Society of
Civil Engineers, organized in 1848 and then in October 1852, with an effort to organize a Society
of Civil Engineers and Architects in New York. Led by Alfred W. Craven, Chief Engineer of the
Croton Aqueduct and future ASCE president, the meeting resolved to incorporate the society under
the name "American Society of Civil Engineers And Architects". Membership eligibility was
restricted to “civil, geological, mining and mechanical Engineers, architects, and other persons
who, by profession, are interested in the advancement of science.” James Laurie was elected the
society's first president. The meetings only went through 1855 and with the advent of the American
Civil War, the society suspended its activities. The next meeting was more than twelve years later
in 1867. A number of the original founders such as James Laurie, J.W. Adams, C. W. Copeland
and W. H. Talcott were at this meeting and were dedicated to the objective of resuscitating the
Society. They also planned to put the society on a more permanent footing as well as electing fifty-
four new members to the Society. With success in that effort, the young engineering society passed
a resolution noting that its preservation was mainly due to the persevering efforts of its first
president, James Laurie. The address of President James Pugh Kirkwood delivered at that meeting
in 1867 was the first publication of the Society, appearing in Volume 1 of “Transactions,” bearing
date of 1872.