The present paper deals with the dynamic response of non-structural components of civil and industrial buildings under seismic actions. Since plenty of researches have been carried out in the last two decades for improving seismic safety in structures under earthquake shakings, the buildings actually designed to the last generation of seismic codes are generally characterized by satisfactory performances under earthquake-induced actions. On the contrary, recent seismic events pointed out the huge damage often suffered by the parts of those buildings which do not belong strictly to the “structure”. The set of such “non-structural” components generally includes several classes of “objects”, ranging from finishing elements (i.e., masonry infills, façades, and so on) to facilities, plants and systems which are generally present in buildings, even depending on the diverse activities possibly carried out therein.

A huge lack of knowledge still affects both analysis and design of those “objects” which should be also checked under seismic actions, in the spirit of the well established “Performance-Based approach”.

This paper is a contribution to the above points and basically addresses the following three aspects:

-         proposing a systematic classification of the various classes of “objects” possibly belonging to the wide set of “non-structural” components generally present in civil and industrial buildings;

-         reviewing the existing provisions of structural codes about the seismic response of “non-structural” components;

-         formulating a simplified method for determining the actions induced on a generic “non-structural” component during seismic events.

The third aspect is probably the most innovative one proposed by the present paper. It will point out the influence of the (elastic and inelastic) properties of both the “non-structural” components and the main structures, on the earthquake-induced actions on the former.