Year: 2025

Week Four of the International Code Council’s Building Safety Month Spotlights Building Safety Professionals

Washington, D.C. – The International Code Council’s Building Safety Month campaign continues in its fourth week by highlighting the important work of building safety professionals and the rewarding career paths available to those who want to make a difference in their communities.

Week Four: The Starting Lineup, outlines the roles of building safety professionals such as inspectors, building officials, plans examiners, permit technicians and fire marshals. Week Four also provides guidance on how to work with local building departments to ensure the safety of homes, businesses, schools and public buildings.

“Building safety professionals are the silent defenders of public safety,” said Code Council Board President David Spencer, CBO. “It’s a rewarding career that is always in-demand and has an incredible impact on our daily lives.”

Communities across the United States are issuing proclamations declaring May 2025 as Building Safety Month. View the proclamations here or submit one here.

To participate in Building Safety Month:

American Gas Association is the foundation sponsor of 2025 Building Safety Month. To learn about sponsorship, click here.

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About the International Code Council
The International Code Council is the leading global source of model codes and standards and building safety solutions. Code Council codes, standards and solutions are used to ensure safe, affordable and sustainable communities and buildings worldwide.

Why the IPSDC

Why the IPSDC?

Why should a state, city or jurisdiction adopt the
International Private Sewage Disposal Code (IPSDC)?

The IPSDC is an innovative, efficient and effective private sewage disposal code that is fully correlated with the other International Codes® (I-Codes®). It includes provisions for the design, installation, and inspection of private sewage disposal systems, and provides flexibility in the development of safe systems. The IPSDC is adopted in 17 states across the U.S. and is also adopted in Puerto Rico and Guam. Approximately 131 million people, or 38% of the US population, live in areas that have adopted the IPSDC.

International Private Sewage Disposal Code (IPSDC)

International Private Sewage Disposal Code (IPSDC)

The IPSDC is a vital part of a complete building safety system for communities, individuals, and businesses needing their own onsite wastewater solutions. It is a companion to the IPC that provides minimum acceptable requirements for private sewage disposal systems in order to protect humans and the environment from insanitary conditions.

The IPSDC establishes minimum requirements for sewage disposal systems using prescriptive and performance-related provisions. It is founded on broad-based principles that make possible the use of new materials and new sewage disposal designs.

  • The IPSDC addresses the best practices and technologies to ensure the safety and welfare of communities, individuals, and businesses that utilize their own onsite wastewater solutions.
  • Site evaluation and requirements are addressed. Because soil conditions vary widely, even on the same building site, tests and inspections of the soil must be performed to evaluate the degree to which the soil can accept these liquids.
  • The IPSDC covers sizing, capacity and installation of septic tanks, other treatment tanks and water holding tanks.
  • The IPSDC includes provisions for initial inspection procedures and preparation for inspection.

The I-Codes, when adopted as a family of codes, correlating as they do, provide a consistent system of regulations that designers, builders, and regulators can rely on, across city, county, or state lines.

The adoption of building codes, including the swimming pool and spa code, is not just about the codes. Technical support, in the form of expert advice, code opinions, and technical resources are some of the most sought-after services following adoption of a code.

The Code Council’s expert technical staff provides advice, code opinions, and resources to our more than 60,000 members as a complimentary benefit.

We have several resources, including commentaries and study companions, to support our members and industry professionals in achieving a better understanding of the code and implementing inspection programs.

Numerous training resources are available on the IFGC including face to face training and webinars which are led by qualified instructors and fuel gas industry leaders.

The Code Council also has a world class digital platform where codes, industry standards and resources can be accessed from one’s computer, tablet, or phone.

The IPSDC is developed through a governmental consensus process

that involves many interest groups including public safety officials, plumbing contractors, manufacturers, standards development organizations, academia, consumers and many more;

cannot be influenced by vested financial interests;

and is conducted every three years.

Click here for more information on the process or
one of the links below to see an infographic of the process.

(Click to download a jpg or pdf)

Why the ISPSC

Why the ISPSC?

Why should a state, city or jurisdiction adopt the
International Swimming Pool and Spa Code (ISPSC)?

The ISPSC is the most widely adopted swimming pool and spa code across the United States. The ISPSC is currently adopted in 33 states across the U.S. and is also adopted in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Approximately 246 million people, or 72% of the US population, live in areas that have adopted the ISPSC.

International Swimming Pool and Spa Code (ISPSC)

International Swimming Pool and Spa Code (ISPSC)

The ISPSC is a vital part of a complete building safety system, providing an integral component necessary to achieving a safe and healthy environment for users of swimming pools, spas, hot tubs and aquatic facilities.

The ISPSC establishes minimum requirements for the design, construction, alteration, repair and maintenance of swimming pools, spas, hot tubs and aquatic facilities.

  • The ISPSC is derived from, and fully supported by, the ANSI/PHTA and ANSI/APSP national consensus standards.
  • All design and construction aspects of residential and public pools and spas are addressed in the ISPSC.
  • The Model Aquatic Health Code (MAHC) could easily compliment the ISPSC by addressing maintenance and operation of public pools and spas; the MAHC is not a complete substitute for adoption of the ISPSC because it does not cover all aspects of design and construction of public pools.
  • The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) and its member organizations support the adoption of the latest edition of the ISPSC.

The I-Codes, when adopted as a family of codes, correlating as they do, provide a consistent system of regulations that designers, builders, and regulators can rely on,
across city, county, or state lines.

The adoption of building codes, including the swimming pool and spa code, is not just about the codes. Technical support, in the form of expert advice, code opinions, and technical resources are some of the most sought-after services following adoption of a code.

The Code Council’s expert technical staff provides advice, code opinions, and resources to our more than 60,000 members as a complimentary benefit.

We have several resources, including commentaries and study companions, to support our members and industry professionals in achieving a better understanding of the code and implementing inspection programs.

Numerous training resources are available on the IFGC including face to face training and webinars which are led by qualified instructors and fuel gas industry leaders.

The Code Council also has a world class digital platform where codes, industry standards and resources can be accessed from one’s computer, tablet, or phone.

The ISPSC is developed through a governmental consensus process

that involves many interest groups including public safety officials, plumbing contractors, manufacturers, standards development organizations, academia, consumers and many more;

cannot be influenced by vested financial interests;

and is conducted every three years.

Click here for more information on the process or
one of the links below to see an infographic of the process.

(Click to download a jpg or pdf)

Florida Case Study

The Florida Building Code Story: Building Safety, Resilience and Affordability

Key Takeaways and Lessons Learned

Florida continues to improve its building codes so that more homes can be left standing after a major storm.

The Need for a Statewide Building Code

Florida remains one of the fastest-growing states in America with nearly 1 million people moving there in 2023 alone. Many are attracted to the warm weather and beautiful beaches, but residents also gain the benefits of a statewide building code that was designed to protect the health, safety and welfare of its citizens.

Florida faces 41 percent of U.S. hurricanes and dozens of tornadoes each year, putting its infrastructure and its building codes to the test.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office for Coastal Management, natural disasters are occurring more frequently and with greater severity. Between 2020 and 2024, the U.S. experienced 115 weather and climate disasters with damages of more than $1 billion per event.

Per NOAA, total losses (2024) reached $182.7 billion in damages across 27 disasters, exceeding the five-year annual average of 23 events and $149.3 billion in losses.

Natural disasters have cost Florida billions of dollars in damage since 1980. Through 2024, the total damage is estimated to have reached:

Florida, in particular, has a long history of devastating hurricanes before the 1990s, including the Great Miami Hurricane (1926), Labor Day Hurricane (1935) and Hurricane Donna (1960), resulting in thousands of fatalities and billions of dollars in damages.

While these hurricanes were among those that led to the first building codes in Florida, it wasn’t until Hurricane Andrew in 1992 that the state realized it was time for a significant change.

Andrew, another Category 5 hurricane, blasted Florida with 165 mph winds, causing 23 direct deaths and $27 billion in damage. Miami-Dade County’s urban landscape was severely damaged by the storm, which destroyed 25,000 homes (including 99 percent of all mobile homes in the City of Homestead) and left 160,000 residents homeless.

Andrew’s wrath was twofold: in addition to being a particularly intense storm, Florida’s varied collection of building codes and lenient enforcement ($4 billion in insured losses attributed to Miami-Dade County's poor code enforcement) left residents especially vulnerable. The results were so severe that Florida Governor Lawton Chiles decided it was time to take action.

The Birth of the Florida Building Code: A New Era in Building Safety

With an eye on strong, standardized regulations that would guide Florida’s built environment moving forward, Governor Chiles established the Governor's Building Codes Study Commission in July 1996. The Commission was made up of a balanced group of individuals who acted in the interests of the State of Florida as a whole. Dominic Sims, former CEO of the International Code Council, and at the time, Executive Director for Palm Beach County, served the Commission as Vice Chairman.

At the time, Florida had multiple building codes. With 67 counties and more than 400 municipalities doing things their own way, and no overarching code to guide them, enforcement was difficult, and uniformity was impossible.

“This patchwork of regulations was really an obstacle to better and safer building construction,” said Sims.

The 28-member Governor’s Building Codes Study Commission included:

  • Chairman Tom Lewis, Jr., Vice President of Walt Disney Imagineering
  • Vice Chairman Dominic Sims, Executive Director for Palm Beach County
  • Pete J. Mitchell, Chief of Staff with the Office of Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner
  • Florida Senators Matthew Meadows and Charlie Clary
  • Florida Representatives Ken Pruitt and Mary Brennan
  • Representatives from several industries, including engineering, building, construction, architecture, real estate, insurance, banking and more

Without clear guidelines for what they should and should not do throughout the state, builders faced significant variations jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Few realized the enormity of this problem until Hurricane Andrew and the storms that followed, including the “Storm of the Century” in March 1993. Tropical Storms Alberto and Beryl came a year later in 1994, followed by Hurricane Erin and Hurricane Opal in 1995.

Resiliency Starts with the Florida Building Code

As residents dealt with ongoing damage and the fear of future storms, many insurers abandoned the market, viewing Florida as a losing proposition. Florida’s climate led to a far greater number of claims than anticipated, creating a new problem for Florida residents: they could lose their homes at any time and have no way to pay to rebuild them.

A statewide Building Code was viewed as a solution by creating stronger, more resilient buildings with rules and regulations that are properly enforced.

The Florida Building Code includes codes and provisions from the I-Codes®:

The Governor’s Building Codes Study Commission’s criteria for a successful statewide Building Code:

  1. Be simple to use and clearly understood;
  2. Be uniform and consistent in its administration and application;
  3. Be flexible;
  4. Be affordable; and
  5. Promote innovation and new technology.

The Commission started with the Assessment Phase (October 1996 – January 1997), which included public hearings, panel discussions and a variety of presentations to inform the best possible decisions. The Commission then evaluated all its information and determined the criteria for a code that would protect the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Florida.

The Characteristics of an Effective Statewide Building Code

In the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, the Commission ultimately issued Five Foundations for a Better Built Environment.

The Foundations presented five characteristics for an effective statewide Building Code, which were ultimately adopted:

  1. A single, statewide Building Code (“The Code”) will be implemented which will govern all technical requirements for Florida's public and private built environment and which will take into account appropriate local variations such as climatic conditions, soil types, termites, weather-related events, risks associated with coastal development, life safety issues and maintenance inspections. The Code will be effective for use statewide, without the need for subsequent adoption by local jurisdictions.

The Florida Building Code is bolstered by several Technical Advisory Committees (TACs) that focus on accessibility, structural, fire, electrical, energy, hurricane research, mechanical, roofing, plumbing and more.

While the Florida Building Code is updated triennially, it may be updated more frequently in accordance with criteria set out in Section 553.73, Florida Statutes.

  1. Enforcement of The Code will occur solely at the local level with updates accomplished by a newly constituted, independent, state-level Florida Building Code Board (“The Board”) on a three-year cycle. Board members could provide either broad or specialized expertise in the areas of building code enforcement, building material manufacturing, fire prevention, life safety, finance, property insurance or general business. Local governments will have the ability to address local and regional concerns through an amendments process.
  1. To ensure strong consistency, decisions of local Officials or Boards of Appeal will be reviewable by The Board, and The Board will have the power to issue Binding Interpretations.
  2. There will be a strengthened Enforcement and Compliance Program, based on a clear and precise definition of roles and responsibilities for all participants in the System and reinforced with expanded education, training and discipline.
  3. There will be a strong Product Evaluation and Approval Process which is responsible, but streamlined and affordable and which will promote innovation and new technology.

During the development process, the Commission conducted monthly meetings in various locations in Florida and allowed time for public input and comment.

The trend of public input continues to this day with two 45-day public comment periods during the development of each three-year code cycle.

The Florida Building Code Saves Lives, Protects Property and Reduces Insurance Claims

The first Florida Building Code (FBC) was adopted in 2001 and implemented on March 1, 2002. Based on the International Codes® (I-Codes), the FBC superseded all local building codes, putting an end to the era of confusion and inadequate enforcement. From this point forward, all stakeholders had a clear understanding of what they needed to do in order to achieve compliance.

This includes manufacturers, which now had instructions on what they needed to do to produce compliant products. These instructions are critical to the development of new solutions that will further harden buildings from the next set of hurricanes.

Florida also requires building inspectors and plan reviewers to be licensed in each trade they inspect or review.

The Florida Building Code requires new products to be tested by an independent third party to ensure they function as intended.

Karl Fippinger, Vice President, Fire and Disaster Mitigation for the International Code Council, visits Fort Myers Beach, FL, to review how older (pre-FBC) homes fared when compared to newer (post-FBC) homes.

Hurricane Ian in Florida: A Mitigation Success Story for Building Codes

Additionally, the Code Council, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Mitigation Assessment Team (MAT) and the Florida Department of Emergency Management worked together on a study.

The study found that, since the 1980s, the quantity and average total of insurance claims declined significantly with each subsequent decade of building code advancements.

When comparing buildings elevated to comply with modern codes with nonelevated residential buildings, the latter led to more than twice as many claims that cost more than three times as much as homes that were elevated.

Source: FEMA Mitigation Assessment Team Report, Hurricane Ian in Florida.

FEMA estimates that Florida building codes help the state avoid more than $1 billion in annual losses across more than one million structures due to building damages. This estimate includes $911 million in losses associated with hurricane winds across 891,000 structures, and $152 million in avoided losses associated with floods across 150,000 structures.

FEMA's Building Codes Save: A Nationwide Study found that I-Code adoption could help communities avoid between $132B and $171B in cumulative losses through 2040, and $600B+ by 2060.

According to the National Institute of Building Sciences, states and jurisdictions that adopt the latest building code requirements can save up to $11 for every $1 invested. In Florida, additional savings are already apparent.

The FBC is also credited with reducing windstorm losses by up to 72 percent. And by ensuring codes are properly administered and enforced, researchers found an additional loss reduction value on the order of 15 to 25 percent. Additionally, modern building codes decreased the expected spike in post-hurricane mortgage delinquency rates in Florida by about 50 percent.

Ahead of Hurricane Ian, it is estimated that every $1 added to construction costs – to comply with the latest version of the FBC – saved $8 in structural damage.

Florida has remained proactive with its implementation and adoption of the FBC. For more than 20 years, the FBC has helped save lives, protect property and safeguard Floridians’ way of life by improving building resiliency and ensuring that new construction is built to withstand Florida’s challenging climate.

As the frequency and severity of storms rises, the need to regularly update adopted codes to keep pace with advancements in technology, lessons learned and best practices will only increase. That’s why the Florida Building Commission has remained vigilant in updating the FBC every three years while considering new solutions and innovations that could strengthen how buildings are constructed and improved. Their research and continuous updates provide a model for other states and jurisdictions that want to protect residents and businesses against hazards while facilitating economic growth.

The Future of the Florida Building Code

Although updated codes integrate the best practices and the latest science, most buildings were constructed before the FBC came into effect. Protecting occupants within these structures is equally important.

Following the collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, which caused nearly 100 fatalities, Florida’s leaders took swift action to better assess risks from existing structures. Miami-Dade County quickly updated its building recertification program to require threshold buildings (those with 4+ stories) to be inspected by a structural engineer with experience working on that specific type of building. Random inspections will be conducted to verify that a building's condition matches reports from architects and engineers.

The county also now requires electrical panels to be inspected via thermal imaging and added a façade requirement to evaluate the danger of non-structural components that could become dislodged.

Looking to prevent future tragedies, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has spent nearly four years investigating the Surfside incident. As Floridians await NIST’s final report, there are other building safety challenges that must be considered.

Sergio Ascunce, Deputy Building Official at Miami-Dade County, expects the changing climate to play a role in future code developments.

“Sea level rise is included in that topic,” said Ascunce. “I think elevating buildings further is going to be something you’re going to look at in the future. In the FBC, we have a one-foot freeboard [above the Base Flood Elevation] that applies across the board to all construction. Could that change to become two or three feet? It’s a possibility. It has to be analyzed carefully.”

What Communities Can Learn from the Florida Building Code

Florida’s experience offers several key lessons for improving building safety and resilience through effective code development and implementation:

  • Strong, regularly updated and well-enforced building codes are essential for building safety and resilience;
  • The FBC stays effective by continuously incorporating new updates, allowing it to adapt to evolving challenges;
  • A statewide code helps unify regulations across disaster-prone regions, making enforcement more efficient and consistent;
  • Proper code enforcement is vital to prevent violations that can lead to serious risks for lives and properties;
  • Public education and awareness are critical to gaining support for building codes; Florida’s proactive approach serves as a model for other states;
  • Ongoing communication with stakeholders ensures smoother implementation and greater compliance with code changes.

More Resources

Screenshot of ICC Government Relations home page

ICC Government Relations
View website

Modern Building Codes: A Path to Affordable, Resilient Housing web page screenshot

Modern Building Codes: A Path to Affordable, Resilient Housing
View website

BSJ Article screenshot - Joint Study

Joint Study Examines the Influence of Building Codes on Mortgage Delinquency After Hurricanes
View article

2023 Florida Building Code Cover

2023 Florida Building Code, Building, Eighth Edition
View code