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Green Buildings Hazardous to Health? Report Cites Risks of Weatherization
Published June 08, 2011
FoxNews.com
The buildings commonly referred to as "green" could actually be hazardous to your
health, according to a new report. (AP)
The buildings commonly referred to as "green" could actually be hazardous to your
health, according to a new report.
That's one of many warnings out of a new report from the Institute of Medicine,
which tracked the potential impact of climate change on indoor environments.
The report cautions that climate change can negatively and directly affect indoor
air quality in several ways. But the scientists behind the study warn that
homeowners and businesses could also be making the problem worse by pursuing
untested or risky energy-efficiency upgrades.
"Even with the best intentions, indoor environmental quality issues may emerge
with interventions that have not been sufficiently well screened for their effects
on occupant safety and health," the report said.
To save costs and cut down on emissions, building owners typically find ways to
seal off potential leaks and conserve energy. But in "weatherizing" the buildings,
they also change the indoor environment.
By making buildings more airtight, building owners could increase "indoor-air
contaminant concentrations and indoor-air humidity," the report said. By adding
insulation, they could trigger moisture problems. By making improvements to older
homes, crews could stir up hazardous material ranging from asbestos to harmful
caulking -- though that problem is not unique to energy improvements.
The report did not dissuade homeowners and businesses from making the energy-
efficiency upgrades. Rather, it called for a more comprehensive approach, urging
organizations to track the side effects of various upgrades and minimize the
"unexpected exposures and health risks" that can arise from new materials and
weatherization techniques.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/06/08/green-buildings-hazardous-
to-health-report-cites-risks-weatherization/#ixzz1OoQrrZQv
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President Obama Recognizes Building Safety Month & the Importance of Our Work
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release May 9, 2011
NATIONAL BUILDING SAFETY MONTH, 2011
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION
Building safety is a critical component of our homeland security, our personal and
public safety, the protection of property, and our economic well-being. While
disasters have had devastating and heartbreaking effects in our country and
around the world, modern building safety standards and fire prevention codes
help us withstand, mitigate, and rapidly recover from hurricanes, winter storms,
tornadoes, earthquakes, and floods.
It is our collective responsibility as a Nation -- nonprofit organizations and the
public and private sectors -- to implement effective standards and codes that
sustain safe and resilient structures. We need innovation and partnerships at
all levels of society to develop transformative breakthroughs in building materials
and construction techniques that strengthen the integrity of our homes,
workplaces, and commercial facilities.
Building safety and fire prevention officials, architects, engineers, design
professionals, builders, and others in the construction industry work every day to
ensure the sound construction of buildings and the safety of our citizens. Their
efforts to construct or retrofit buildings that utilize state-of-the-art safety, energy
efficiency, and fire prevention standards are important to our national resilience
and our ability to compete in the 21st-century economy.
As a resilient Nation, we must continue to do everything in our power to enhance
our ability to withstand and rapidly recover from natural and manmade disasters,
disruptions, and emergencies.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by
virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim May 2011 as National Building Safety Month.
I encourage citizens, government agencies, private businesses, nonprofit
organizations, and other interested groups to join in activities that will increase
awareness of building safety, and I further urge Americans to learn more about
how they can contribute to building safety at home and in their communities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of May, in the
year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and thirty-fifth.
BARACK OBAMA
# #
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Bribery Suspected:
latimes.com/news/local/la-me-city-bribes-20110507,0,5311792.story
latimes.com
City expands probe into corruption allegations at building agency
A federal grand jury has sent the Department of Building and Safety three
subpoenas, including one seeking personnel records of at least 11 current and
former employees. Last month, 2 inspectors were arrested on suspicion of
accepting bribes.
By David Zahniser and Abby Sewell, Los Angeles Times
May 7, 2011
Los Angeles officials have significantly expanded their internal investigation into
corruption allegations at the city's building department, driven by fears of a much
wider pattern of wrongdoing.
In the month since two inspectors were arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes,
the Department of Building and Safety has received three subpoenas from a
federal grand jury, including one seeking personnel records for at least 11 current
and former employees.
Two department employees have been placed on leave over the last week,
pending an investigation, officials confirm. Department managers would not say
whether that move was connected to the probe. In addition, the city's lawyers
revealed that the department is the target of a lawsuit filed by a USC fraternity that
claims it faced retaliation after refusing to pay bribes.
"Our investigation has expanded citywide," said William Carter, chief deputy for
City Atty. Carmen Trutanich. "We're looking at all aspects of the inspection
program."
Carter said city officials originally thought the matter was limited to the two men
arrested last month: inspectors Raoul Germain, 60, of Altadena and Hugo Gonzalez,
49, of Eagle Rock. Germain pleaded guilty on Thursday to accepting $6,000 in
bribes between November and January.
Both men were put on leave in February after the department received an
anonymous tip and were fired this week, city officials said.
Between August and January, Germain and Gonzalez were secretly recorded
during an FBI sting operation that involved an undercover agent who posed as a
contractor working in South Los Angeles.
A confidential informant told the FBI that bribes are a "systemic" problem at the
department, and described giving not just cash but free labor, materials, and in
one case, a vacation, according to court affidavits. Meanwhile, Gonzalez offered
his own suggestion that other employees were involved, the affidavit said.
In one recorded exchange, Gonzalez told the undercover agent that he normally
demanded $2,000 to sign off on a building permit. But because the construction
project under discussion was on 97th Street, and outside of his territory, Gonzalez
said he would need $2,500 so he could pay a "tribute" to the building inspector
responsible for that address.
"We have been working like that for a long time," the affidavit quotes Gonzalez as
saying.
Gonzalez has pleaded not guilty but is considering changing that plea to guilty,
said Jack Alex, his attorney. Gonzalez remains in custody and is considered by the
presiding judge to be a flight risk because he owns a home and land in Mexico,
Alex said.
Germain's attorney, Steven M. Cron, said he did not expect that his client would
help with the investigation of other suspects. Since the arrests, two Building and
Safety officials — general manager Robert "Bud" Ovrom and department
spokesman David Lara — have been called to testify before the grand jury. Federal
prosecutors instructed Ovrom to turn over records on any disciplinary action or
internal investigation involving Gonzalez, Germain and at least eight other current
or former department employees
In his monthly newsletter to the public, Ovrom apologized to residents, the City
Council and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for what he described as "alleged
outrageous violations of the public trust." And in an interview, Ovrom said his
internal investigation has gone beyond South Los Angeles, where Germain and
Gonzalez worked.
"I have been asked if [corruption] is systemic in the organization. I don't believe it
is," he said. "But I do believe it is more than two employees. We definitely have
more people under investigation." The city employs roughly 315 inspectors.
Neither Carter nor Ovrom would provide the names of individuals mentioned in
the subpoena, other than Germain and Gonzalez. They also would not identify the
two employees placed on leave. Prosecutors with the U.S. attorney's office
declined to comment on the scale of their investigation.
The ongoing probe leaves open the possibility of lawsuits over the inspections
handled by Germain and Gonzalez, who are accused of signing off on electrical
work, foundations and fire systems — sometimes without showing up at the job
sites. If more inspectors are implicated, more structures become vulnerable to
challenge.
One lawsuit has already been filed by the Alpha Nu Assn. of Theta Xi, a USC
fraternity on 28th Street. In documents filed in March, the group alleged that
inspector Martin Hurtado held up approvals "any way he could" after his request
for a "bribe" was rebuffed.
According to the suit, the Greek organization failed its plumbing inspection 20
times, each time with the same inspector.
"He requested unnecessary blueprints. He required the plumber to redo work that
had been done correctly the first time. He would instruct the plumber to
perform…tasks, then instruct the plumber to return the premises to the state they
were before the task," the lawsuit states.
Hurtado could not be reached for comment. He has not been identified in affidavits
or mentioned as a target of any federal investigation. Lara said his agency had not
reached any conclusions about the lawsuit.
"We're rolling that into the ongoing investigation," he said.
david.zahniser@latimes.com
abigail.sewell@latimes.com
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
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Jurisdictions to adopt an "experimental permit program" and issue permits for
buildings exempt from the California Building Standards Code in order to facilitate
"environmentally sustainable building materials, methods and designs." Read the
text of the bill here. Isn't that what the Green Building Code is for?
3/15/2010
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State Senate proposes to turn permitting for construction of elementary, high
school and junior colleges over to local building departments. If passed, SB 1227
would remove plan check and inspection of these buildings from the authority of
DSA and transfer those duties to the County or City in which the school is located.
Read the proposed text here.
3/15/2010
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Sacramento Official Overrode Computer in Approving Natomas Home Permit
Transfer www.sacbee.com
Published Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009
The son of a Sacramento city councilman overrode a computer system to permit a
home builder to construct homes within the Natomas flood zone earlier this year,
an apparent violation of a federally mandated building ban, city officials said
Monday.
Dan Waters – son of Councilman Robbie Waters and a customer service
supervisor in the Community Development Department – signed off on a request
by K. Hovnanian Homes to build 35 homes in its Westshore project, west of
Interstate 5 and south of Del Paso Road, according to permits obtained by The Bee.
Those actions have resulted in a Federal Emergency Management Agency inquiry,
an internal investigation by city officials and a third-party audit of the Community
Development Department.
Federal regulations barred the city from issuing building permits after Dec. 8, 2008,
for new homes in Natomas – unless they were elevated 33 feet to keep them dry in
a catastrophic flood.
K. Hovnanian had obtained 35 permits for Westshore before the building ban, but
in April asked that they be transferred to more marketable lots, according to an
internal memo by City Attorney Eileen Teichert. City code prohibits a transfer of
permits from one property to another, Teichert wrote.
Community Development Department head Bill Thomas said there was "no direct
evidence of any malfeasance," but that it appears Waters' actions were "blatant"
and "intentional."
"There were overrides made on these permits," Thomas said. "The computer says
wait, it's in a FEMA zone and you have to trick the computer to go around that."
Thomas said Waters has been with the department for more than three years and
has FEMA training. Thomas said Waters would "without question" be disciplined.
Dan Waters referred questions to a city public information officer when reached at
the public counter of the Community Development Department on Monday.
Robbie Waters, running for re-election in the council district that covers the
Pocket and Valley Hi, said he and his son do not speak about city business
regularly and that he first learned of the situation two weeks ago from Thomas. Dan
Waters is his father's campaign treasurer.
"Danny has not lived in this house for over 13 years," Robbie Waters said. "He's
out on his own. He's 38 years old and I knew nothing about this until Oct. 7 when it
was brought to my attention."
According to Teichert's memo, K. Hovnanian's construction of new homes began in
May, although permits were not issued until last month and $61,000 in deferred
fees were not collected until Sept. 22.
Teichert said the action could cause the federal government to downgrade the
city's flood prevention rating, which could raise flood insurance rates.
Thomas' department discovered the permit transfers last month after the city's
Department of Utilities' quarterly exam of FEMA compliance in Natomas showed
two questionable construction jobs.
An inquiry by the development department found the 35 transferred permits, and
work was halted on those homes immediately, Thomas said. FEMA was notified by
the city last week, Thomas said.
A FEMA official will meet today with city officials to begin a formal review of the
permits.
"We are meeting with Sacramento officials, at which time they will present us
information and documents which we will be reviewing at our office," Oakland-
based FEMA spokeswoman Franceska Ramos said.
Ramos said FEMA staffer Cynthia McKenzie, an Oakland-based planner for national
flood insurance programs, will review potential actions after a meeting with the
city. Ramos said there is no timeline for the review and declined comment on
possible violations at stake.
Sacramento building inspectors Monday also told K. Hovnanian that the city would
not inspect any of the new homes until the question of the permits' validity is
resolved. Without inspections, homes cannot be sold and occupied.
"That, by necessity, stops construction," said the home builder's Sacramento
attorney, Courtney McAlister.
K. Hovnanian maintains it did nothing wrong. The firm simply moved building
permits it already received before Dec. 8, company officials said again Monday.
The builder said smaller homes originally intended for the permits were not selling
as well as hoped. So it asked to transfer the permits to other better-selling
"villages" in its Westshore project.
"The city ordinance code says nothing about transferring from one property to
another," said K. Hovnanian's McAlister. "That's what happened here. It was not a
transfer from one entity to another, just from one lot we owned to another we
owned."
According to Teichert's memo, K. Hovnanian has closed escrow on four of the
homes, which now have people living in them. Eight more have been sold, but
escrow was not closed. The others are under construction.
McAlister said it's likely that most homes under construction have buyers
committed to moving in when they are finished. He said the company hopes the
issue will be resolved this week.
McAlister said halting construction on the houses is having financial
consequences.
"With respect to economics, they are what you would imagine," he said. "There are
people for whom their employment relies on the continuation of this subdivision.
And subcontractors are in the same boat."
In addition to McAlister, K. Hovnanian is represented by Gregory Thatch, a land-
use attorney who has a street named after him in North Natomas. Thatch is also the
finance co-chairman for Robbie Waters' re-election campaign.
Thatch said Monday that he was out of the country for most of the last month and
that he doesn't know much about the situation. He said there was no connection
between his relationship with the Waters family and K. Hovnanian, and the
transferred permits.
"It's a fair question, but it's preposterous," he said.
Assistant City Manager John Dangberg said there was nothing to show that Thatch
had influenced the permit transfers, but "if any pattern emerges that raises a red
flag, we'll investigate further."
Dangberg said development officials are examining permits throughout Natomas
to see if this was an isolated incident.
City Manager Ray Kerridge has called for a third-party audit of the development
department, Dangberg said.
Thomas said his department already has implemented new safeguards, including
retraining for all employees and a policy that any unusual permit requests be
approved by two supervisors.
Mayor Kevin Johnson said Monday that he would also encourage an outside exam
of the development department.
"This could have been avoided," he said. "I've been a proponent of audits for
every department. We need to look at possibilities of waste, fraud and abuse."
Councilman Ray Tretheway, whose district includes Natomas, said the city "must
make sure everyone is held accountable."
"We have to prove to FEMA this is a singular incident, the city caught it, the city
corrected it and the city has put into place measures that it won't happen again,"
he said.
Call The Bee's Ryan Lillis, (916) 321-1085.
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02/15/2008 - Tired of talking liquefaction with soils engineers when you don't speak
their language? Read this report and you will have a better understanding of
liquefaction and how it relates to the Building Codes we are charged with
enforcing.
property. One major item that contributes to liquefaction on a site is high ground
water (generally within the top 50' of soil). If you have drilled a well recently and
can provide a copy of the drilling logs showing water was hit below the magic 50'
level, you have just removed one of the major threats and possibly reduced the
costs of your soils report.
yourselves and the public.
Richard
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01/08 - Compliments of Imad Naffa's Building Discussion Group - A timely
Discussion on Soils Reports & the 2007 CBC:
To help decipher the foundation and soils report requirements found in the 2006
IBC, the following article from Structural Engineer Magazine may be helpful.
http://gostructural.com/article.asp?id=2376
=============================================
Section 1802: Foundation and soils investigations
S.K. Ghosh, Ph.D., and Susan Dowty, S.E.
Section 1802.2 of the 2006 IBC specifies where a foundation and soils investigation
(hereinafter referred to as a soils report) is required to be submitted to the
building official. There are some specific cases set forth in the IBC where soils
reports are required, such as in the presence of questionable soil, expansive soil,
and a high groundwater table. These triggers are irrespective of the seismic
design category (SDC). What may come as a surprise to the code user is that even
when these specific situations do not exist, the IBC requires a soils report for a
structure assigned to SDC C, D, E, or F. And there is a laundry list of issues that
need to be addressed in the soils report, including slope stability, liquefaction,
and surface rupture. In SDC D and higher, the lateral pressure on basement and
retaining walls due to earthquake motions needs to be determined. This
requirement for a soils report can very much work to the engineer's and owner's
advantage, because the soil type is conclusively determined, which may mean a
more favorable SDC assigned to the structure.
What may come as even more of a surprise is that the exception for a soils report
found in Section 1802.2, which reads as follows, is not applicable to structures
assigned to SDCs D through F:
Exception: The building official need not require a foundation or soils
investigation where satisfactory data from adjacent areas is available that
demonstrates an investigation is not necessary for any of the conditions in
Sections 1802.2.1 through 1802.2.6.
A code user may not initially recognize that the exception does not apply to
structures assigned to SDCs D through F. However, upon close reading of the
exception, one notices that it only references Sections 1802.2.1 through 1802.2.6,
and it is Section 1802.2.7 that requires a soils report for any structure assigned to
SDC D, E, or F. This mandatory requirement of the IBC for a soils report for any
structure assigned to SDC D, E, or F will result in a major change in California
practice where the UBC has not automatically required a soils report based on
seismic zone.
Answers to FAQs:
Q: My structure has been assigned to SDC D. Section 1802.2.7 mandates quite an
extensive list of requirements for the soils report. Are there any applicable
exceptions? The exception for an investigation in Section 1802.2 does not apply to
Section 1802.2.7. How does the exception at the end of Section 1802.2.7 work?
A: There are no exceptions to the requirement for a soils report for an SDC D, E, or
F structure. The exception at the end of Section 1802.2.7 applies only to the site-
specific study requirement for the purpose of determining the peak ground
acceleration. The peak ground acceleration needs to be known by the
geotechnical engineer to evaluate the potential for liquefaction and soil strength
loss. The exception allows an estimate of SDS/2.5 to be used to represent the peak
ground acceleration.
Q: Can you cite any references on the seismic design of retaining walls?
A: Following is a list of references for the seismic design analysis of "yielding"
retaining walls (walls that can move sufficiently to develop minimum active earth
pressures), such as that illustrated in Figure 1806. These references (and others)
and their application are discussed in Section 7.5 of the 2003 NEHRP Commentary.
Nadim, F., and R.V. Whitman. 1984. "Coupled Sliding and Tilting of Gravity Retaining
Walls During Earthquakes." Proceedings of the Eighth World Conference on
Earthquake Engineering, pp. 477-484.
Seed, H.B., and R.V. Whitman. 1970. "Design of Earth Retaining Structures for
Dynamic Loads," Proceedings, ASCE Specialty Conference on Lateral Stresses in
the Ground and Design of Earth-Retaining Structures, pp. 103-147. Ithaca, New
York: Cornell University.
Siddarthan, R.S. Ara, and G. Norris. 1992. "Simple Rigid Plastic Model for Seismic
Tilting of Rigid Walls," Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE, pp. 469-487.
Steedman, R.S., and X. Zeng. 1996. "Rotation of Large Gravity Retaining Walls on
Rigid Foundations Under Seismic Loading." Analysis and Design of Retaining Walls
Against Earthquakes, ASCE Geotechnical Special Publication 60, edited by S.
Prakash, pp. 38-56. New York: ASCE.
Following is a reference for the seismic design analysis of "nonyielding" retaining
walls (walls that cannot move sufficiently to develop minimum active earth
pressures), such as a basement retaining wall.
Wood, J.H. 1973. Earthquake-Induced Soil Pressures on Structures, Report EERL
73-05. Pasadena: California Institute of Technology.
S.K. Ghosh Associates Inc., is a structural, seismic, and code consulting firm
located in Palatine, Ill., and Laguna Niguel, Calif. President S.K. Ghosh, Ph.D., and
Susan Dowty, S.E., are active in the development and interpretation of national
structural code provisions. They can be contacted at skghosh@aol.com and
dowtyskga@cox.net, respectively, or at www.skghoshassociates.com.
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Sacramento Bee Story Compliments of Imad Naffa
Visionary law's litigious legacy:
California allows uniquely generous payouts to disabled people who sue private
businesses and public agencies for violations of the federal Americans With
Disabilities Act. That has sparked a wave of lawsuits and made the state a magnet
for lawyers; By Marjie Lundstrom and Sam Stanton - Bee Staff Writers
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$4.5-Million Ruling Goes Against O.C.
The planning department overcharged for building fees and then misspent the
money, a judge says.
By Jean O. Pasco, Times Staff Writer - January 6, 2005
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8-20-2004 -- News from Tom Liberty -- Aloha Everyone,
I've changed jobs again. I am a Project Engineer. Soon to be Project
Manager. This time I should be set for quite a few years. I'm working for
Metzler Contracting Co., LLC. We build very upper end homes in a couple of
the resort area on the Kohala Coast just North of Kailua Kona. These houses are
taking between 14 and 18 months to complete. The workmanship is just perfect.
Amazing finish work!!!
Aloha to all!!!
My email has changed to liberty@metzlercontracting.com
Aloha,
Tom Liberty
Metzler Contracting Co., LLC
808-325-0819 808-325-9848 Fax 808-936-6596 Cell
| 2011 |
