Construction Industry Trends
November 2006
A Growing Emphasis on Building Codes
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The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina brought renewed emphasis to the importance of building codes when the Louisiana state legislature, in a special session shortly after the hurricane, approved adoption of the International Code Council (ICC) International Building, Residential, Existing Building, Mechanical and Fuel Gas Codes. Until that point, most of the state’s parishes didn’t have any building codes in place—a fact that became evident after the destruction wrought during the 2005 hurricane season. Yet even with this type of publicity highlighting the effectiveness of building codes, adherence to them still can be an issue—raising questions of safety.
“Time and time again we see where good building codes make a difference,” says Rick Weiland, CEO of ICC. He points to countries where usage of building codes is limited at best—and where casualties resulting from natural disasters have been overwhelming: Iran, for example, where approximately 30,000 people died after an earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale struck the country in 2003. Approximately 85 percent of the buildings in the city nearest to the epicenter also were destroyed. Or Pakistan, where it’s estimated more than 73,000 people died after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck the country in 2005.
“That’s when it becomes very real, when you see the human suffering and loss of life,” says Weiland.
But having good building codes is only half the battle. While it’s up to individual local jurisdictions in the United States whether or not to adopt building codes, those that do sometimes still are unable to protect building residents because they lack adequate inspection and code enforcement support.
“One thing we’ve learned is that we can have the best available building codes and standards, but if we fall down on enforcement, we only have half of what we really need to provide the kind of minimum levels of safety to protect the public and to protect both commercial and residential structures,” Weiland says.
In the end, it is up to construction and design professionals to make sure they are following up-to-date building codes. But with new versions of the codes being released by ICC every three years—Weiland estimates that 20 percent to 30 percent of the codes change during each revision—it can be challenging for members of the construction industry to keep up.
For this reason, ICC focuses not only on code development, but also on training. The organization offers a number of different types of training and educational opportunities, including in-person, telephone and online classes and seminars. While most of these training sessions are geared toward code enforcement professionals such as construction inspectors and plan reviewers, anyone can sign up.
Weiland believes that keeping up with current codes is important for all members of the industry. “Misunderstanding or not having the proper training on the most current building codes really creates a tremendous financial burden for everybody that’s involved with a particular project. I think people in the design and construction communities need to have a minimum understanding of what the code requirements are, and if they don’t, it can create a real problem for them, for the contractor, for the homeowner.”
As for companies that believe the cost of the building codes makes them almost prohibitively expensive to purchase every few years? “I think that’s shortsighted, because there are certain economic realities to doing business,” says Weiland. “It may cost companies a lot more in the long run if they don’t do it right at the front end. And doing it right at the front end involves understanding what the code says.”
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