Acceleration-sensitive non-structural elements not only constitute a significant portion of a building’s component inventory, but also comprise components and systems that are indispensable to the operational continuity
of essential facilities. In New Zealand, Section 08 of the seismic loadings standard, NZS 1170.5: Earthquake Actions, and a dedicated standard, NZS 4219: Seismic Performance of Engineering Systems in Buildings,
address the seismic design of non-structural elements. This paper scrutinizes the design provisions for acceleration-sensitive non-structural elements in NZS 1170.5 and NZS 4219, and provides an international
perspective by comparing with the design provisions for non-structural elements specified in ASCE 7-16, the latest ATC approach and Eurocode 8.