NIST to Provide Updates on Construction Safety Team Investigations in September Advisory Committee Meeting

Skip to main content NEWS NIST to Provide Updates on Construction Safety Team Investigations in September Advisory Committee Meeting August 6, 2025 Share Facebook Linkedin X.com Email Team lead Judith Mitrani-Reiser (left) confers with team member Jim Harris and co-lead Glenn Bell during materials testing for the National Construction Safety Team's Champlain Towers South investigation. Credit: NIST GAITHERSBURG, Md. — The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will host two virtual meetings of the National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee on Sept. 9 and 16, 2025. The public meetings will include updates on NIST’s investigations into the impacts of 2017’s Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico and the 2021 partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside, Florida. In addition to presentations on both current investigations, the meetings will include updates on progress made implementing recommendations from previous investigations, and responses to the committee’s 2024 recommendations. The Hurricane Maria and Champlain Towers South presentations and discussions with committee members will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 9. The Tuesday, Sept. 16, meeting will include updates on NIST’s Disaster and Failure Studies Program. A detailed agenda will be posted to the NCST Advisory Committee Meetings webpage once it is finalized. On Sept. 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated much of Puerto Rico, damaging buildings that its communities relied on for medical care, safety, communications and more. Those wishing to attend the virtual meetings can register on the NIST event page. The link to the meetings will be provided to registered attendees shortly before Sept. 9. The Sept. 9 meeting will include a public comment period. Those who would like to offer comments must register by 5:00 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025, at the link above, and indicate that they would like to make a comment. In July 2025, the Hurricane Maria investigation lead Joe Main and co-lead Maria Dillard released a video update including preliminary findings and potential recommendations. More information about this investigation can be found on the NIST website. Champlain Towers South investigation lead Judith Mitrani-Reiser and co-lead Glenn Bell provided a video technical update on their team’s investigation in June 2025. All publicly released information on this investigation, including videos, photos and presentation slides, can be found on the NIST website. Read the Federal Register notice for additional information. Buildings and Construction, Building codes and standards, Building damage and repair, Structural engineering, Environment, Infrastructure, Resilience, Community resilience, Disaster and failure studies and Windstorm impact reduction Released August 6, 2025, Updated September 9, 2025 Was this page helpful?