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National Storm Shelter Association

P.O. Box 41023 Lubbock, TX 79409

Phone: 1 877.700.NSSA (6772)

E-mail: info@nssa.cc

NSSA Origins

The National Storm Shelter Association (NSSA) grew out of a concern for storm shelter quality after the Oklahoma City tornadoes of May 1999.  Concept of the above ground storm shelter, called an in-residence shelter, had been introduced in the Civil Engineer Magazine twenty five years earlier. Redevelopment of the shelter concept had reached the point where Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had published a booklet entitled “Taking Shelter From the Storm-Building a Safe Room Inside Your House”. 

 State of Oklahoma decided to use the substantial mitigation funding made available by FEMA to supplement the construction of storm shelters in Oklahoma.  This incentive program created an unprecedented demand for shelters within a short period of time.  Home builders responded to the created market for storm shelters, building primarily those shelters featured in FEMA 320.  For these shelters, building inspectors were charged with ascertaining compliance with FEMA 320 background storm shelters.  Manufacturers also responded to the market for above ground shelters by creating an exciting array of manufactured shelters or kits to be assembled into storm shelters.  Since no specifications were available it was required that shelters be tested for debris impact resistance and that they have an engineers seal.  As one might expect in any new industry, many quality issues surfaced.  A few engineers were both qualified and willing to design storm shelters to verify quality of existing designs.  There was no standard available for shelters not shown in FEMA 320.  Those performing debris impact test as well as the manufacturers of quality products became painfully aware of quality problems within the newly founded industry.  Within the first year after the Oklahoma City disaster, more than 20 companies had their manufactured shelters tested at Texas Tech University for debris impact résistance.  Dr. Kiesling invited those companies to a meeting at Texas Tech University in February of 2000 to address issues of quality in the storm shelter industry.  The National Storm Shelter Association was conceived and Lubbock Texas was designated as its headquarters. 

 The purpose of the National Storm Shelter Association is to foster quality by recognizing and distinguishing the shelter products who meet a high standard of quality.  They are entitled to affix a seal to their shelters a testing compliance with a industry standard.  But there was no standard! Hence, the first major undertaking of the NSSA was to develop an industry standard.  Almost a year was consumed in evolving the first draft of an industry standard for storm shelters.

 Criteria for member grade in the NSSA requires that shelter producers-builders or manufacturers-comply with FEMA 320 for above ground storm shelters or that they have their shelters tested for debris impact at a NSSA approved facility and that they have their designs and engineering calculations verified by a third party engineering company to be in compliance with the standard. 

 For a variety of reasons, few shelter producers have “gone the distance” to meet the requirements for membership in NSSA.  Nevertheless, code development continued within NSSA with the intent of evolving the industry standard into a national consensus standard.  Fortunately, in July of 2002 an agreement was reached between the International Code Council (ICC) and the National Storm Shelter Association (NSSA) to develop a national consensus standard to be accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Under development is the ICC/NSSA Standard for Design and Construction of Storm Shelters. It is expected to be ready for adoption by code jurisdictions in 2007. In the meantime, NSSA will continue to make an industry standard available on its website at www.NSSA.cc The industry standard will be removed from the website when the ICC/NSSA Standard is complete and ready for distribution.