JCSS and Liaison Committee

The JCSS is a committee in the field of Structural related Risk and Reliability, acting on behalf of the Liaison Committee of the following six international professional associations:

  • IABSE, International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering.
  • CIB, International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction.
  • ECCS, The European Convention for Constructional Steelwork.
  • FIB, The International Federation for Structural Concrete.
  • RILEM, Reunion Internationale des Laboratoires et Experts des Materiaux.
  • IASS, The International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures.

Organization

The JCSS consists of a Board, chaired by the President, and a number of Working Parties, chaired by Reporters. The initiation of a new Working Party is proposed by the Board and needs endorsement by the Liaison Committee.

Terms of reference

  • To provide general knowledge and decision support for the life-cycle based management of safety, reliability, risk, robustness, durability, resilience and sustainability for the built environment, on the basis of sound scientific principles and with an open eye for the applications in practice.
  • To take care that inter-associational pre-normative research in the field of Risk and Reliability is performed in an effective and adequate way.
  • To strive for coordination between the interassociational pre-normative research and normalization activities in ISO, Eurocode, etc.
  • To provide appropriate support and technical coordination for the work of the Member Associations.

Our history

In 1971, the Liaison Committee which co‐ordinates the activities of six international associations in civil engineering, composed of CEB, CIB, fib, IABSE, IASS and RILEM, created a Joint Committee on Structural Safety, JCSS, with the aim of improving the general knowledge in structural safety. The JCSS under the chairmanships of the late Prof. J. Ferry‐Borges, Portugal, followed by Prof. J. Schneider, Prof. R. Rackwitz, Prof. T. Vrouwenvelder, Prof. M. H. Faber, Prof. J. D. Sørensen, Dr. Inger B. Kroon and presently Prof. M. H. Faber. JCSS continuously has two meetings every year since 1971. During these meetings, more than 250 papers on structural safety and related matters have been discussed. Several documents of general character and interest have been prepared and published. These documents supplied the background for the preparation of guidance documents concerning the design and construction of different types of structures and materials, among others several ISO documents, Eurocodes and the CEB and ECCS Model Codes.

Working Parties and Task Groups

The Working Parties consists of about 10 active members. They are selected by the Board, in consultation with the Working Party. Working Parties meet twice a year on the average, set up and carry through their working program, in collaboration with the Board. The Reporter organizes the work of the Working Party, issues invitations for, and chairs the Working Party meetings, and maintains close contacts with the Board. The Reporter on behalf of the Working Party informs the Board of work both executed and planned.

Presently the JCSS has three Working Parties (WP’s) and one Task Group (TG). The WP’s are set up around activities which are of permanent character. The TG’s are initiated for activities which are assumed to have a more limited duration. However, TG’s may transform to become WP’s if it turns out to be relevant.

The present WP’s and the TG of the JCSS are:

  • WP1, The Probabilistic Model Code (PMC): The main objective of this WP is to maintain, update and further develop the PMC of the JCSS. The PMC provides the bases for reliability-based design of structures in terms of philosophy, general principles, models and methods. The PMC may be utilized in the context of establishing semi-probabilistic design codes for structures as well as for the reliability-based design of the specific project.
  • WP2, Risk-Informed Decision Support for Systems Involving Structures: The main objective of this WP is to provide bases for risk-informed decision support for the design and management of systems involving structures. Focus is directed on the rationale for optimizing decisions, probabilistic system representations in the context of natural and manmade hazards, principles for modeling of consequences, acceptability and criteria regarding the safety of humans as well as the qualities of the environment together with risk perception and management of risk communication.
  • WP3, The JCSS Continuing Education and Advanced School: This WP has the objective to disseminate the knowledge established within WP1 and WP2 as well as to share the experience of the members of JCSS and other international subject matter experts in the network of the JCSS. The target groups for the JCSS dissemination activities are professionals from the industry and public authorities with an interest to upgrade their knowledge as well as Ph.D. students.
  • TG1, The JCSS Special Task Force on Resilience and Sustainability in the Built Environment: The mandate of the special task force is to assess and map the role of structural design concepts in the context of sustainable and resilient societal developments, to identify frameworks and methods for assessing sustainability and resilience of structural concepts and to propose strategies for regulation of structural design with joint consideration of structural safety, sustainability and resilience.

The Board consists of the President, the former President, the Reporter(s) and one Member-Specialist per Association. All members are designated for a 5-year period but they may be reappointed. The President of the JCSS issues invitations for and chairs the meeting of the Plenum, and secures the co-ordination within JCSS and between the JCSS and the Liaison Committee. The Board meets at intervals of one year. It discusses, approves and submits to the Liaison Committee results obtained within the Working Parties.

The Board

Jochen Köhler

President

Inger B. Kroon

Vice-President

Jianbing Chen

Reporter WP1

Miroslav Sykora

Co-Reporter WP1

Matthias Schubert

Reporter WP2

Jannie S. Nielsen

Co-Reporter WP2

Maria Pina Limongelli

Reporter WP3

Michael Havbro Faber

Co-Reporter WP3

Niels Peter Høj

IABSE

[To be appointed]

CIB

Robby Caspeele

FIB

[To be appointed]

ECCS

Kefei Li

RILEM

Marijke Mollaert

IASS

Selection Procedures

The President is nominated by the Board and needs endorsement by the Liaison Committee at least half a year before expiring the current presidents term. The Reporters are nominated by the relevant Working Party and needs endorsement by the Board. Each association is responsible for the nomination of its own Board member. Members of a Working Party are nominated by the Working Party and need endorsement of the Board.

Former JCSS Presidents