Building Safety Month News
Emphasizing the need for safe and sustainable structures where we live, work and play
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"Surround Your Building with Safety" Is BSM Week 3 Theme Building Safety Month Featured in Congressional Record
"Helping Homeowners Weather the Storm" Is BSM Week 2 Theme National Building Safety Month Celebrated across the U.S.
2014 Building Safety Month: Code Officials Keep You Safe Promote Building Safety in Your Community
 
"Code Officials: Surround Your Building with Safety" Is the Theme for Building Safety Month Week 3

Take special precautions to ensure outdoor areas are safe.

As families head outdoors to enjoy nice weather in spring and summer, special precautions should be taken to ensure outdoor areas are safe from potential hazards. Swimming pools, decks, barbecue grills, gardening tools, fertilizers and lawn toys all pose risks to children and adults. The theme for week three of Building Safety Month 2014, May 19–25, sponsored by the Laborers' International Union of North America (LiUNA), is "Code Officials: Surround Your Building with Safety." More information about Building Safety Month and outdoor safety is available at www.buildingsafetymonth.org.

"Building Safety Month, celebrated in May of each year, is the perfect time to focus on outdoor safety," said International Code Council Board President Stephen D. Jones, CBO. "As the old saying goes, 'An ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure,' and in this instance prevention can mean an enjoyable—and safe—warm weather season."

"We are proud to be a Building Safety Month sponsor," said LiUNA General President Terry O'Sullivan. "With a highly trained, highly skilled workforce and a network of training centers that spans the nation, it is our priority to make our communities safer."
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"Code Officials: Helping Homeowners Weather the Storm" Is the Theme for Building Safety Month Week 2

Preparing your family and protecting your home are critical aspects of mitigating natural disasters.

Making sure your family is prepared to weather natural disasters is important. Your actions can ensure that no matter what Mother Nature brings, you, your family and your community will be resilient, according to the International Code Council. Since 1980, Building Safety Month has been an annual public safety awareness campaign. The theme for week two of Building Safety Month 2014, May 12–18, sponsored by the Portland Cement Association, is "Code Officials: Helping Homeowners Weather the Storm."

"The power of natural disasters can be overwhelming," said International Code Council Board President Stephen D. Jones, CBO. "While you can't necessarily stop natural disasters from happening, there are steps you can take to increase your home's chance of survival, even in the face of the worst Mother Nature can dish out. The best line of defense is a home constructed to code. Also be sure to review your disaster plan regularly. If you make changes that affect the plan, update it immediately."

"The impact of natural disasters is often not limited to individual buildings but can involve entire neighborhoods or communities and can have devastating regional and national implications," said Steve Szoke, Senior Director of Codes and Standards for the Portland Cement Association. "Assessing potential disaster risks and consequences is important for community planning and building code adoption, even when the improvements are made one building at a time through new construction or re-construction should a disaster occur."
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2014 Building Safety Month: Code Officials Keep You Safe

By Dave Miller, Associate Administrator for the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration (FIMA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

This May marks the 34th annual Building Safety Month, and fourth National Building Safety Month observance. Building Safety Month is a public awareness campaign founded by the International Code Council (ICC). The campaign focuses on public outreach and education to increase the overall safety and sustainability of buildings through the adoption of model building codes and promotion of code enforcement.

An assortment of theme-related community events, safety demonstrations, and educational outreach activities take place during Building Safety Month. The overarching theme of Building Safety Month is Building Safety: Maximizing Resilience, Minimizing Risks. This theme is supported by weekly building safety sub-themes:

May 5–11 | Code Officials: Keeping Fire in Its Place
May 12–18 | Code Officials: Helping Homeowners Weather the Storm
May 19–25 | Code Officials: Surround Your Building with Safety
May 26–31 | Code Officials: Building A Brighter, More Efficient Tomorrow

Our Nation's building safety, fire prevention, and energy codes and standards play a critical role in maintaining and ensuring the safety of our buildings and enable our Nation to better prepare, respond, recover, and mitigate from all hazards. Strong building safety, fire prevention, and energy codes and standards also puts the Nation in a better position to deal with future challenges, such as climate change. FEMA supports ICC's Building Safety Month as it strives to help communities reduce the impacts of natural disasters by promoting the importance of strong building standards, protecting the environment, and saving energy. For the flood community, stronger codes and standards are on the horizon with the coming 2015 International Building and Residential Codes and the referenced standard ASCE 24-14 Flood Resistant Design and Construction.

Turning research into practice, FEMA's Building Science Branch develops and produces multi-hazard mitigation guidance that focuses on creating disaster-resilient communities and working to advance the adoption of building codes to help protect homes and businesses from all hazards. These publications are utilized by the public to protect homes and businesses from earthquakes, fires, floods, tornadoes, winds, and other hazards. Technical guidance focuses on new construction and retrofitting existing buildings to design stronger and safer buildings. The following is a sample of recently released Building Science Branch resources that clearly define the value of building codes, proper construction practices, and structural/non-structural mitigation techniques for occupant safety, community resilience, and recovery from disasters:

• Building Codes Toolkit
• FEMA Earthquake School Hazard Hunt Game and Poster
• FEMA P-50 and P-50-1, Simplified Seismic Assessment and Retrofit of Detached, Single-Family, Wood-Frame Dwellings
• FEMA P-950, Building Science Toolkit
• FEMA P-942, Mitigation Assessment Team Report: Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey and New York
• FEMA P-936, Floodproofing Non-Residential Buildings
• Seven Design and Construction Features Important to Seismic Performance Animation

In alignment with Building Safety Month, the National Building Museum's Designing for Disaster exhibit opened May 11 and will remain on view through August 2, 2015. FEMA is a proud sponsor of the exhibit as it explores new solutions for, and historical responses to, a range of natural hazards through unique objects, captivating graphics and multimedia, including video testimonials. Designing for Disaster will discuss disaster mitigation as an evolving science and highlight the tools and strategies that today's planners, engineers, designers, emergency managers, scientists, environmentalists, and various business and community leaders are investigating and adopting to build safer, more disaster-resilient communities.

For additional information on multi-hazard mitigation guidance, visit FEMA's Building Science Branch.

For additional information on how Code Officials Keep You Safe, visit Building Safety Month.
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Building Safety Month Featured in Congressional Record

This year's Building Safety Month was featured in the May 9 Congressional Record (page E736). The remarks in support of Building Safety Month, reprinted below, are from Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT):

Mr. Speaker, I seek to mark the start of Building Safety Month. Each May, we recognize the importance of building safety and the leadership of the International Code Council (ICC) that develops and publishes the model building safety and energy efficiency codes. These codes are used in my home state of Vermont, and throughout the United States, as well as in many other nations.

Building codes are the foundation for safety, stability and performance in buildings. Without strong building codes, flood would lead to increased damage, earthquakes would flatten communities, and countless lives would be lost. Strong model building codes also ensure our buildings are high performing and energy efficient.

So I want to congratulate the leaders of the ICC, who sponsor Building Safety Month, celebrated in May every year for over 30 years.

The leaders of ICC, including the President Stephen D. Jones, Construction Official for Millburn Township/Short Hills, New Jersey; Past President of the Board of Directors, Ronald Piester, Director, Division of Code Enforcement and Administration from the New York Secretary of State’s Office; Vice-President Guy Tomberlin, Code Specialist for Fairfax County, Virginia; and Alex Olszowy III, Building Inspection Supervisor, Lexington/Fayette Urban County Government, Kentucky will join ICC’s Chief Executive Officer Dominic Sims in Washington the week of May 19th, to discuss the critical need to support the adoption and enforcement of current building codes, to make sure Americans are safe at home, at work, at school and at play.

The model building codes, produced by ICC, allow every community in the United States to share the advantage of adopting building codes that are adaptable to local conditions, but at the same time incorporate the very latest research, materials, and building practices. This is achieved in a private-public partnership, saving local jurisdictions from bearing the large expense of code revision, updating and coordination. These model codes are produced through the cooperation of thousands of local officials, working with the building industry, to produce codes that represent a consensus on what the minimum safety requirements are for various building types.

Congratulations to the hard working members, and leadership, of the International Code Council.
National Building Safety Month Celebrated across the U.S.

Building Safety Month is a public awareness campaign offered each year to help individuals, families and businesses understand what it takes to create and sustain safe and sustainable structures. The campaign reinforces the need for adoption of modern, model building codes, a strong and efficient system of code enforcement and a well-trained, professional workforce to maintain the system.

The campaign is presented by the ICC and its 57,000 members worldwide along with a diverse partnership of professionals from the building construction, design and safety community. Corporations, government agencies, professional associations, nonprofits and more come together to support Building Safety Month because they understand the need for safe and sustainable structures where we live, work and play.

For the last 34 years the 50,000 worldwide Members of the ICC have celebrated advances in constructing safe, sustainable, affordable and resilient buildings and homes. The ongoing support of Building Safety Month and the important role code officials play in public safety in the built environment comes from the President of the United States, governors, mayors, county executives and other government officials and construction industry professionals.

International Code Council Board President Stephen D. Jones, CBO, stated, "Recognizing building officials and design professionals for their commitment to public safety raises the profile of building safety professionals everywhere and helps us realize our goal of creating safe, sustainable, resilient and more affordable communities."

"Addressing resiliency in the built environment and urging all Americans to learn more about how they can contribute to building safety at home and in their communities is what Building Safety Month is all about," said ICC Chief Executive Officer Dominic Sims, CBO. "We thank all the ICC Members who hold public safety events during Building Safety Month and recognize the generosity of our sponsors who make building safety a priority."

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Promote Building Safety Month in Your Community

Building Safety Month depends on the efforts of individuals like you. The Code Council provides several resources to assist you in promoting Building Safety Month in your community. These resources include strategies on how to set up a Building Safety Month event, a fill-in news release, a sample proclamation, and more. Many resources are available for free download.

Consider these tips to promote Building Safety Month in your community: Promote BSM through your Chapter activities; set up an information booth at city hall or a local hardware store; visit a school and give a presentation about building safety; post local information on your website; send a news release to newspapers, and radio and television stations.

Like us on Facebook! Please share your Building Safety Month events photos with us and others. Or tweet on Twitter with #BuildingSafetyMonth and join the hundreds of others supporting Building Safety Month.