For the second year in a row President Barack Obama issued a national proclamation declaring May to be National Building Safety Month. According to Proclamation 8807 of May 1, 2012, the President “encourage[s] citizens, government agencies, private businesses, nonprofit organizations, and other interested groups to join in activities that will increase awareness of building safety, and I further urge Americans to learn more about how they can contribute to building safety at home and in their communities.”

The GR-led initiative to establish the ICC High School Technical Training Program has gone live – with its own website and downloadable toolkit. Started by Harford County code official Jim Ellwood, this program has been fully embraced by the ICC and is ready to go nationwide! There are now three toolkit modules available on the ICC website: one for school administrators and instructors, one for code officials and ICC chapter members, and one for students. The High School Technical Training Program is a great way to introduce codes to the next generation of code officials and construction professionals.

ICC’s collaboration with the ANSI Electrical Vehicles Standardization Panel has led to the publication of a strategic roadmap, whose objective is to foster coordination and collaboration on standardization matters among public and private sector stakeholders to enable the safe, mass deployment of electric vehicles and associated infrastructure in the United States with international coordination, adaptability, and engagement. This roadmap of the standards and conformity assessment programs needed to facilitate the widespread acceptance and deployment of electric vehicles will be updated periodically based upon panel contributions and technical input.