International Code Council Foundation’s Building Safety Week Expands to Building Safety Month for 2010

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Building Safety Week, for the first time, will expand into a month-long awareness campaign; Building Safety Month: Commemorating a 30-year Legacy of Leadership. Building Safety Month will be held in May.

“Building Safety Month continues the goal of the original Building Safety Week, and provides the public with ideas to keep their families and homes safe,” said Rick Weiland, ICCF Board of Governors President and CEO of the Code Council. “The message is simple: Be proactive. Demand better safety features. While code enforcement officials who usually work in building and fire departments ensure the places where we live work and play are built safely, the public has an obligation to ensure the homes they live in remain safe.”

The International Code Council Foundation (ICCF) Building Safety Month campaign is designed to increase awareness about the critical importance of building and designing safe and sustainable structures globally. Building Safety Month also will showcase historic milestones, and current technologies and innovation in building and fire prevention codes, including advances in construction, safety and sustainability.

In 1980, a series of tragedies guided former education and training officer of the then-Indiana State Building Commissioner’s office Marty Doucette and other leading building safety proponents to create Building Safety Week to raise awareness of building safety and fire prevention codes.

This year, Building Safety Month is being sponsored by BASF, The Chemical Company, the largest provider of chemical solutions and innovations for the construction industry globally. According to Jack Armstrong, Leader Construction Markets at BASF, “We are excited to partner with the ICC Foundation to promote building Safety Month to show people how together we can create a more durable, energy efficient and healthy built environment.”

The campaign includes weekly distribution of information around four core themes with consumer tips and links to resources to help keep buildings where we live, work and play safe.

The four weekly themes include:

• Energy & Green Building
• Disaster Safety & Mitigation
• Fire Safety & Awareness
• Backyard Safety

First observed in 1980 as Building Safety Week, Building Safety Month is a program of the International Code Council Foundation. The International Code Council Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with the mission to promote public awareness of ideas‚ methods and technologies that encourage the construction of safe, durable and sustainable buildings and homes, reducing the devastating effects of building damages due to natural disasters and other tragedies.