International Code Council Board Members and staff met with members of Congress, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) during the first week of Building Safety Month 2011 to discuss federal matters that have a local impact on ICC Members.

“Having a presence in Washington, D.C., allows us to work closely on behalf of our Members with Congress, federal agencies and other national organizations represented in the nation’s capital; and makes ICC easily accessible to them,” ICC CEO Richard P. Weiland said. “The I-Codes are not only adopted and enforced in all 50 states, they also are referenced and used by federal agencies, and the U.S. Capitol.

As part of Building Safety Month, ICC has an annual Capitol Hill Day. The Board’s Executive Committee, Jimmy Brothers, Bill Dupler, Ron Piester and Ron Lynn; and Board Director Guy Tomberlin along with Government Relations staff visited U.S Senators, Representatives and Congressional staff to educate and stress the importance of code development, adoption and enforcement to public safety.

“We also used the opportunity to talk about natural disasters and remind our decision makers that safe buildings don’t just happen, they are the result of strong building codes, understood and complied with by the construction industry, and enforced by state and local code officials,” Weiland said. “We discussed the Standard for the Design and Construction of Storm Shelters developed by ICC and the National Storm Shelter Association (NSSA). We provided examples of how a family survived the recent tornadoes in Alabama because of their home storm shelter built to the standard.”

The ICC/NSSA standard establishes minimum requirements to safeguard the public health, safety and general welfare through design, construction and installation requirements for storm shelters.

ICC is part of a coalition that supports the re-authorization of the National Earthquake and Hazard Reduction Program, which has benefitted from increased Congressional attention on the dangers posed by earthquakes, following the recent devastation in Japan.

Weiland, Brothers, and Lynn accompanied by senior staff also met with FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate and with Dr. Sandra Knight, Deputy Administrator of Mitigation. The discussion centered around disaster mitigation, the cost of recovery after major disasters and the importance of adopting strong building codes to really make an impact on disaster mitigation. Both FEMA and ICC agreed the best national mitigation strategy for saving lives, reducing property damage and saving tax dollars for rebuilding post disaster is the enforcement of the latest model codes and standards by state and local code officials.

At the meeting with the U.S. Department of Energy ICC expressed its appreciation for the distribution of the International Energy Conservation Code through 40,000 free downloads supported by DOE. The agency has been working closely with ICC and ICC Members and stakeholders to do more code outreach and adoption support.

Weiland, the Executive Committee of the Board, and senior staff also took the opportunity to catch up with representatives from several organizations with D.C. offices including the American Gas Association, American Institute of Architects, Building Owners and Managers Association International, National Association of Home Builders and National Multi Housing Council.