Building Safety Month Highlights Importance of Resilient Infrastructure and Clean Water

Building Safety Month is recognized every May and involves an international campaign to raise awareness about building safety. The Presidential proclamation released by the White House for this year’s Building Safety Month emphasizes the importance of strengthening both buildings and infrastructure to serve the needs and ensure the safety of every American. It calls attention to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, when many people became increasingly dependent on their homes, and by natural disasters that have increased in frequency, duration, and intensity due to climate change. Against these growing hazards, it states, “Investing in our infrastructure and adopting and implementing modern building codes are the most effective mitigation measures communities can undertake.” For Building Safety Month, the International Code Council (ICC) has created a website providing information and resources and identifying themes for each week. For week three, from May 17 to 23, the focus is on water safety. In discussing this theme, it emphasizes the role of code officials in protecting the water supply and has posted materials that discuss proper construction and plumbing and backflow prevention.