WASHINGTON – FEMA is once again participating in Building Safety Month with the International Code Council (ICC). Building Safety Month is an international campaign held in May to raise awareness about building safety. Each week of May is devoted to a different topic: preparing for natural disasters; training and education; clean and abundant water; construction professionals partnering with homeowners; and innovations in building safety. Building with resilience and safety in mind, before and after disasters, is key to reducing loss of life and property when disaster strikes.
The central theme of this year’s Building Safety Month focuses on confidence in our nation's building codes. Without codes the safety our homes and businesses is left to chance. Find out what building codes are in your area by visiting www.InspectToProtect.org and Be Code Confident. You will also learn why building codes are important, how they work, how you can support the adoption of modern building codes in your community and other valuable information from our partners at the Federal Alliance For Safe Homes (FLASH).
More information on the 2019 weekly themes:
- Week One, May 1-5: Preparing for disasters: Build strong, build smart
- Week Two, May 6-12: Ensuring a safer future through training and education
- Week Three, May 13-19: Securing a clean, abundant water water for all communities
- Week Four, May 20-26: Construction professionals and homeowners: Partners in safety
- Week Five, May 27-31: Innovations in building safety
FEMA’s Strategic Plan: Objective 1.1: Incentivize Investments that Reduce Risk expressly calls out support of building codes by stating that “Disaster resilience starts with building codes, because they enhance public safety and property protection.” Dr. Daniel Kaniewski, Deputy Administrator for Resilience for FEMA, said “Building Safety Month is a great time for communities to prioritize strong building codes. Updating and enforcing these codes for public buildings, homes and businesses will go a long way toward increasing our nation’s resilience to disasters.”
Focusing on building safety helps to support the safety and security lifeline within a community. Ensuring the strength of this lifeline before a disaster enables the continuous operation of government functions and is essential to human health and safety or economic security.
FEMA will be highlighting building safety initiatives and recommendations throughout each of the five weeks of Building Safety Month.
For additional information on how to prepare yourself and your family for disasters visit Ready.gov.
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