For 41 years, the International Code Council, or ICC, has recognized May as Building Safety Month. The annual public awareness campaign, as ICC members, FEMA, and others know, “emphasizes the importance of modern building codes and strong building code enforcement.” That’s because compliance with building codes and standards is absolutely essential to creating safer, stronger, and more resilient communities. 

Case in point: $132 billion is the estimated reduction in property losses based on forecasted consistent growth associated with the use of modern building codes from 2020-2040. 

Building Safety Month reinforces the need for adoption of modern and regularly updated building codes. It also serves as a time when ICC members and others, including BOLDplanning, can remind county, local, tribal and territorial governments of the importance of codes adherence. Incredibly, and as recently shared by FEMA, 65% of counties, cities and towns across the U.S. have not adopted modern building codes with natural hazards provisions (flood, wind, seismic) intact. 

That said, Building Safety Month 2021 is the perfect opportunity for everyone to learn more on this important topic and make steps toward improvement. This year’s theme is “Prevent, Prepare, Protect. Building Codes Save.” Weekly activities, including virtual events, are planned as follows: