“Code Officials: Keeping Fire in its Place” Is Theme For Building Safety Month Week 1

Building Safety Month
Building Safety

Posted by Heidi Schwartz Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, fire sprinklers, and passive fire-rated construction such as fire walls and fire doors designed to stop the spread of fire save lives and protect property. Those and other safety measures in fire and building codes published by the International Code Council (ICC) and widely used in the built environment throughout the United States provide minimum safeguards for fire prevention and protection. Whether a building is constructed of wood, brick, concrete, or steel, code compliance is the key to minimizing the damage from fires and saving lives. Since 1980, Building Safety Month has been an annual public safety awareness campaign. The theme for week one of Building Safety Month 2014, May 6-12, sponsored by the American Wood Council (AWC), is “Code Officials: Keeping Fire in its Place.” “Code officials, along with the fire service, architects, engineers, builders, and the public, help to develop construction safety codes and standards,” said ICC Board President Stephen D. Jones, CBO. “During Building Safety Month, and throughout the year, many Code Council members schedule community outreach events and school-based programs across the nation to demonstrate the importance of building to code. We honor them for their commitment to public safety.” “We’re honored to participate in ICC’s Building Safety Month,” said AWC President and CEO Robert Glowinski. “Properly implemented building codes are critical to any building material performing to its highest standard; and properly constructed and code compliant wood structures have an excellent fire record in North America. We applaud the ICC and the U.S. Fire Administration for their efforts to educate the building community and the public at-large to ensure public safety.” For more on facility management coverage of Building Codes, click this link. More information about Building Safety Month and fire safety tips is available here.