Vademecum STOP: shoring templates and operating procedures for the support of building damaged by earthquakes

This decision support tool aims to guide both decision and operating processes for realizing provisional works by fire department in order to improve post-earthquake safety. The acronym STOP stands for technical fact-sheets for provisional works (in Italian “Schede Tecniche per le Opere Provvisionali”).

The aim of STOP project is to provide the fire fighters operators with a working tool to lead them to make provisional works on buildings. The fact-sheets intend to lead the operators to recognize the problem (the characteristic of the damage) and to define one or more solutions, underlying the critical processes. Particular attention is paid for the safety of the operators, that will work in an unsafe area.

The project was developed by the Italian National Fire Department following the earthquake of 6th April 2009 in L’Aquila, where many damaged buildings needed provisional works in order to stop the progression of the existing damages, both for saving the building and for improving the practicability of streets.