News Detail

ACI Chapter Opportunities for Building Safety Month – May 2020

1/14/2020

Building Safety Month (BSM) is an international campaign spearheaded by the International Code Council (ICC) that takes place in May to raise awareness about building safety. This campaign reinforces the need for the adoption of modern, regularly-updated building codes, and helps individuals, families and businesses understand what it takes to create safe and sustainable structures.  The adoption message is aligned with the mission of ACI, so it makes sense to support BSM.  ACI Headquarters continues to sponsor BSM and national events, but most of the activities occur at the state and local level.  There are opportunities for ACI chapters to support the events of local ICC chapters to communicate this message of common intertest to both ACI and ICC. 

All communities need building codes to protect their citizens from disasters like fires, weather-related events and structural collapse. Building codes are society's best way of protecting homes, offices, schools, manufacturing facilities, stores and entertainment venues. Code officials work to keep the public safe.

View 2019 BSM activities

The 2020 program is titled “Safer Buildings, Safer Communities, Safer World.”  This is the first year that ICC is making BSM international.  Each of the four weeks in May has a specific focus:

Week 1 – Disaster Preparedness              
Week 2 – Water Safety
Week 3 – Resiliency, Sustainability, Innovation
Week 4 – Training the Next Generation

Information commonly communicated during building safety month is developed by ICC chapters and members with assistance and using toolkits provided by ICC.  Tool kit items provide information about major issues; how codes are developed; what it takes to develop codes; and the benefits to the public.

ACI Chapter participation in this program can help communicate the common messages to the public and elected officials while improving the relationship with ICC chapter members and leaders.  The ACI Board of Direction recognized the potential benefits for ACI and the ACI chapters and is encouraging ACI chapters to become involved.  ACI Headquarters will match funds, up to $500.00 for ACI Chapters to contribute to an ICC Chapter BSM activity.  Continuation of this program beyond 2020 will depend on the level of engagement that occurs in 2020. This is an incentivization program and it is expected that ACI chapters taking part in BSM will see the benefit of the program and integrate participation into their future work plans.

Learn more about ICC and ICC Chapters

For additional information and guidance, please contact:

kerry.sutton@concrete.org
or
steve.szoke@concrete.org