The Laurens County Building Codes Department is joining with building departments across America to celebrate Building Safety Week from May 6 through 12. First observed in 1980, Building Safety Week seeks to raise public awareness of building safety by promoting the use, enforcement, and understanding of building safety and fire prevention codes to protect lives and property. “Building Smarter…For Disasters and Everyday Life” is the theme of Building Safety Week 2007.

We often say that people don’t pay attention to building safety issues until a disaster occurs. But building and fire codes affect you and your loved ones every day. Inspectors, plan reviewers, and others in the Laurens County Building Codes Department work to ensure that structures you and your families live, work, attend school, worship, and play in are safe. By doing our jobs each day, we provide the first line of defense from building disasters. We are silent defenders who are seldom seen but work daily to ensure safety in the building environment.

During the past year, the Laurens County Building Codes Department, has added to its staff a county fire marshal, worked with the state on code modifications for the International Residential Building Code, has attended 149 hours of certified code training and successfully passed 4 ICC code exams. We are staffed with two permit technicians, three certified building inspectors, two code enforcement officers who are also certified floodplain managers, a state certified fire marshal, and a certified Master Code Professional. During 2006 the building department has issued 2,609 permits and completed 4,725 building inspections. In addition to permits and inspections, we also conducted plan reviews on all new commercial construction, helped the local fire departments with their routine fire inspections of existing commercial buildings, reviewed site plans for FEMA flood elevation requirements, and worked with developers on subdivision plat approvals.

During Building Safety Week, the building department will be providing pamphlets on the benefits of building permits, disaster preparedness, mold prevention and remediation, flood cleanup and building safety books for children. These materials will be available to the public at the county’s Hillcrest Square office complex, in the building codes department. I encourage the public to take advantage of these and any other materials that we have available to learn more about the work of the Laurens County Building Codes Department. Together we can learn to build smarter, for disasters and everyday life.

The Laurens County Building Codes Department is a member of the International Code Council, an association that develops the most widely adopted building safety and fire prevention codes in the nation. Building Safety Week is sponsored by the International Code Council Foundation, an organization dedicated to changing the devastating effects of natural disasters and other building tragedies at home and around the world.

Buddy Skinner, MCP, CBO
Director, Laurens County Building Codes
864-984-6497