Design Professions and Earthquake Policy

Abstract

This article addresses the role of the design professions in enhancing seismic safety as evidenced by interviews with design professionals in the Pacific Northwest. Key policy issues of relevance to this discussion concern the role of codes and other regulatory efforts in influencing design practices. The findings indicate seismic design practices are driven by seismic codes and related norms of “good” engineering and seismic design. Economic and liability considerations constrain practices beyond those of code provisions. As a consequence, policy reforms for seismic risk reduction are highly dependent upon seismic code revision. Variation in seismic design practice is reduced through professional educational efforts, professional licensing and registration requirements, and code enforcement. These findings serve as qualified endorsement of the current federal “limited regulatory” strategy in working with private code-setting authorities to improve seismic code provisions. The qualifications concern the disjunctive impacts of the limited regulatory strategy.