2025 International Building Safety Day

International Building Safety Day
With the support of twenty eight international organisations, the inaugural International Building Safety Day (IBSD) was launched on 22 May 2024.

The purpose of IBSD is to establish an annual day dedicated to promoting and celebrating building safety, and the benefits it provides to the health and welfare of people worldwide. The day is set aside to focus on the critical issue of international building safety and serves as a poignant reminder to governments, communities and all stakeholders within the built environment to uphold the importance of building safety.

At its core, building safety involves avoiding the loss of life and injury to the occupants and users of buildings through events such as fire or structural failure. But it also involves the health and well-being of people through their daily experiences of the buildings in which they live, work or visit. This may include internal air quality, thermal comfort, weather-proofing, resilience to natural events and access. It can also involve the impacts buildings have on the broader environment or the financial and emotional costs incurred by consumers as a result of
building defects.

We all know that building safety is no accident. As buildings become increasingly complex, the supply chains for products continue to expand internationally, and the demands made of practitioners multiply, the building control system itself needs to have the ability to respond to innovation in design, the application of new technologies, construction methodologies and products, as well as emerging building policy considerations.

This year’s IBSD theme of ‘Building for the Future’ is intended to promote the changing nature of building in terms of modern methods of construction, design and materials responding to environmental performance objectives or other related subjects relevant to the local context. Take the time to think about how this might apply to you in your work, your experience of the built environment or those you engage with.

IBSD also provides an opportunity to acknowledge the contribution of those serving in roles that support the essential responsibilities of authorities having jurisdiction and the crucial role they play in ensuring building safety. These professionals, and the technical standards and conformance infrastructure that sits behind them, are not often in the spotlight, working behind the scenes to ensure that people are safe to pursue their daily lives and activities – whether at home, in the office, in a hospital, at a place of worship or school.