One of the many services ISO’s Building Code Effectiveness Grading Schedule (BCEGS®) program provides is presentations around the country on the program, how it works, and the importance of the classifications to community stakeholders. We do about 20 presentations a year and speak with building industry groups, floodplain managers, emergency managers, building officials, municipal officials, and others. In fact, as I write this article, I’ve just returned from giving a presentation to the Northwest Building Officials and Code Administrators (NWBOCA) group in Schaumburg, Illinois, and I’m already planning my next presentation for the Florida Floodplain Managers Association conference in a few weeks.
The reason we undertake these presentations is to accomplish our primary mission: to improve building code effectiveness and enforcement in the United States and make communities safer and more resilient to catastrophes and other events. We work with the building code community to reduce property losses and loss of life and to mitigate the economic and social disruption these events can cause.
"The BCEGS rating system is an invaluable tool that confirms - in an unbiased, external manner — our commitment to the safety and well-being of our community. Our ISO rating sends a powerful and unmistakable message to the residents and business owners of St. Louis Country that our plan reviewers and inspectors are among the best-qualified in the entire nation."
County Executive
Saint Louis County, Missouri
Class 1 BCEGS community - commercial construction
Class 2 BCEGS community - one and two-family residential construction
At the presentations, we cover BCEGS in detail, including its origins and history, how the grading system works, and how communities can prepare for a BCEGS survey. We explore adoption of building codes, staff training and certification, incentive programs, building official qualifications, and much more.
The BCEGS program today covers more than 20,000 communities, which accounts for about 87 percent of the U.S. population. We provide classifications for both commercial and residential properties, and the program benefits residents, insurers, and communities. We’ve forged alliances with many groups, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the International Code Council (ICC), and the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH®). And as you can see by the testimonial, our program has been well received.
You can find out more about the BCEGS program on our website.
BCEGS has scheduled the following presentations for 2017, with more to come:
- April 5: Florida Floodplain Managers Association 2017 Conference, St. Petersburg, FL
- April 11: Eastern States Building Officials Federation Annual Conference, Newport, RI
- April 13: Missouri Association of Building Officials and Inspectors, Lake Ozark, MO
- April 24: North Carolina Association of Floodplain Managers, Atlantic Beach, NC
- May 22 and 23: Maine Building Officials and Inspectors Association, Sebasco Harbor Resort, ME
- June 1: FEMA Hazard Mitigation Stakeholders Workshop, Emmitsburg, MD
- September 6 to 8: Indiana Association for Floodplain and Stormwater Management, South Bend, IN
- September 10 to 12: ICC Annual Conference and Building Safety & Design Expo, Columbus, OH
- October 2 to 4: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
- October 25 to 27: FLASH 2017 National Disaster Resilience Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA